Auditor General Eugene DePasquale today announced the release of $320 million in funds for municipal pension plans and volunteer fire relief associations in each of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties.
The total dollar amount in municipal pension funds for 2013 is $248 million being distributed to 2,542 local government pension plans. An additional $72 million is being released for nearly 1,950 Volunteer Fire Relief Associations (VFRA) to purchase equipment, training, insurance and pay death benefits.
Under state law, the Department of Auditor General distributes the funds to municipalities to help defray the cost of various police, fire and municipal pension plans. Funding is allocated through the municipalities to volunteer fire relief associations.
State pension aid for police, paid firefighters and non-uniformed municipal employee pensions is provided from a two-percent tax on out-of-state casualty insurance premiums; a portion of the out-of-state fire insurance tax is designated for paid firefighters.
On an annual basis, municipalities provide the Pennsylvania Employee Retirement Commission with the number of employees, payroll and the actuarial costs of their pension plans. Municipalities also certify this information with the auditor general’s office. The data is used by the auditor general to compute the amount of state aid that is due to the municipal pension fund.
In addition to distributing state aid, the auditor general’s office audits nearly 1,950 volunteer fire relief associations and 2,542 local government pension plans, which include 963 police officer plans, 81 firefighter plans, and 1,598 non-uniformed municipal employee pension plans. A report detailing the amount of state pension aid distributed to each municipality and funding for VFRAs is online at www.auditorgen.state.pa.us/allocations.
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