Council discusses pension benefit increase with Fire Department officials

BEMIDJI - The Bemidji City Council met with officials from the Fire Department Monday to discuss a pension benefit increase.
The pension benefit in question is used by the Bemidji Volunteer Firefighters’ Relief Association, or FRA, and is mainly funded through a state funding mechanism. Bemidji Fire Chief Dave Hoefer said these types of benefits are used as an incentive package which is used both for recruiting and retaining firefighters.
According to information made available during the meeting, the FRA pension benefit levels do not directly involve taxpayer dollars. However, it can impact city taxpayers through guarantee from the city of Bemidji in the case that the FRA is unable to fund the pension.
The Rural Fire Association is already guaranteeing their portion in the amount of 48 percent of any pension shortfall through their contract for fire services with the city. Because of this, the city is responsible for 52 percent of any sort of pension benefit shortfall.
The most recent examples of city contributions to the FRA was required in 2010 and 2011 with the amounts of $12,051 and $9,326 respectively.
During Monday’s meeting, representatives from the Fire Department discussed a request to increase the pension benefit from $6,000 to $6,575 per year of service. A similar request was made in 2014 when an increase was requested in the amount of $5,350 to $6,000 per year of  service, which was approved.
Additional information stated that the FRA has the ability to increase the pension benefit level on its own without the council’s guarantee or approval, however, the FRA still desires the city guarantee of their benefit level increase as a show of support.
Because Monday’s meeting was a work session, no action was taken on the request from the FRA. The matter will be brought up for a council decision at the next regular meeting on Dec. 7.