COLA Update:

The MainePERS Board of Trustees set the 2011 retiree cost-of-living-adjustment (COLA) at their August meeting.  For eligible Participating Local District (PLD) retirees, the Board voted to set the COLA at 3.2% for 2011.  The COLA takes effect with the September retirement benefit payment. 

Retired state employees, teachers, judges and legislators will not receive a COLA in 2011. The Legislature acted to freeze COLA for these retirees for three years, as part of the biennial budget. 

COLAs are calculated annually, by law, based on the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) as of June 30th.  This year, the CPI-U was 3.6%.  The COLA adopted by the Board is less than the CPI-U because a final adjustment of .4% is required to complete the recovery of the negative CPI in 2009.  The law provides that a negative COLA will not reduce current benefits, and instead must be fully recovered from future positive COLAs.