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As indicated previously, the Municipal Police Employees' Retirement System's (MPERS) board of trustees has authorized settlements with delinquent municipalities/employers.
On December 13, 2023, the board adopted a second amended and restated resolution in which it made the following changes:
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added a March 4, 2024 deadline for employers to execute a settlement agreement (Obviously, you'll have to act well before March 4, 2024 to get to the point where a settlement can be executed. And, no, it doesn't matter if you have pending litigation with MPERS or not.);
- increased the minimum pre-litigation actuarial costs, court costs, and attorney’s fees incurred by MPERS that must be reimbursed by employer from $1,000 to $1,500; and
- clarified that, in addition to the pre-litigation costs, employers must pay all actual actuarial costs, court costs, and attorney’s fees incurred by MPERS associated with litigation (so, the longer you litigate, the more you'll owe, even under a settlement).
As a reminder, there were/are two critical upcoming deadlines that must be met for a municipality to be eligible. The first one was December 1st (enrollment) and the second is December 31st (records).
If you missed the December 1st deadline, Unfortunately, your municipality is no longer eligible for a settlement under the second amended and restated resolution. However, you still must enroll all eligible employees immediately and provide all records to MPERS. If you do so, then MPERS will consider a settlement on an individual basis, but it will likely not be on terms as favorable as under the amended resolution. The longer you wait to enroll your eligible employees and provide records, the larger your MPERS bill will be.
Additionally, please timely review these FAQs regarding resolution settlements with answers and share them with any delinquent municipalities you are aware of or the attorneys who may represent them. Although significant savings can be had, there are several critical deadlines that must be met.
If this message doesn't apply to your municipality, please forward it to one you think it might affect. If someone has told you that their municipality "doesn't do MPERS," please forward it to them (they are wrong).
If you have any questions regarding a possible resolution settlement or anything contained in these FAQs with answers, please contact MPERS’ outside counsel, Sheri Morris, at smorris@daiglefisse.com.
If you have any questions regarding member enrollment or providing MPERS with sufficient records, please contact Emily Thurston at emily@lampers.org.
Thanks for your cooperation!
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