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Henry Apfelbach

Beach Lover
May 14, 2011
61
13
As for why we are not in FRS and are in this Chapter 175 plan let me address that with this. Every Homeowner in South Walton pays a 1.85% excise tax on your homeowner insurance. You would pay this regardless of what the local FD retirement plan is. You also pay a similar tax on your car insurance this money goes to fund these plans for police officers it’s called a Chapter 185 plan. With us being in this plan the money you spend does not just go somewhere else. They actually return that money to this retirement plan. So you should feel good that your tax money is here and not down in south Florida. Maybe the elected officials got this one right? Also, the only person making six figures is Chief Talbert who is making right at 113k/year. Sean Hughes was at around 103k/year but we all know where we are with that.
I believe someone also made a comment about working 25yrs like (only!). I invite anyone to come do this job for 25 years and see what kind of toll it takes on you physically and mentally. That being said I love that fact that I get to help people and I feel like I make a decent living providing this crucial service to you. You will never hear me say I have it bad, all I have to do is look at the FD that I pay taxes too to see what bad is. I don’t think you want 60 year old guys crawling down the hallway of your house in hopes of getting you dragged out. Especially since our gear weighs 50-70lbs alone. I also don’t think you want a 60 year old police officer chasing an 18 year old fugitive. It is things like this that make this a young man’s Job. That is why these plans offer retirement at 25 years. I don’t hear you complaining about how full time military personnel can retire after 20 years. I will say something else it’s a travesty that they only get 50% of their salary after those 20 years. I don’t see how it’s a bad thing to make sure the people who protect us are taken care of later in life.
I did find out one more thing regarding the life span assumption. It uses a table and does not mention any specific ages. I am now trying to track down a copy of that lifespan table.
 

Bob Wells

Beach Fanatic
Jul 25, 2008
3,380
2,857
Bob

Do I have the right makeup of the pension board as follows:

Three members that are members of the FF union
One member that is a SWFD employee, but not a member of the FF union
One member that is not affiliated with either SWFD or the FF Union

Is this right ?
Yes you have the make up right but, 2 members are chosen by the Fire Board, 2 are elected by the pension participants ie every person who is a firefighter including those are in management, and the last is a compromise between the other 4.
 

Bob Hudson

Beach Fanatic
May 10, 2008
1,066
739
Santa Rosa Beach
I am now trying to track down a copy of that lifespan table.

I have attached the RP2000 mortality tables below.

I have the ages for all from a previous public records request. The RP2000 tables for mortality are what was specified in the study.

The entire report is to large to upload so I extracted the appropriate pages from the 181 page report.

View attachment RP2000.pdf
 

Henry Apfelbach

Beach Lover
May 14, 2011
61
13
Mr. Stange sat through the process last time. It usually works with the Chief being the head negotiatior. That was how it was last time. Mark Youngblood was Chief negotiator for our side and Chief Talbert was the head of their side. This time I get the feeling I am dealing more directly with Mr. Stange and get the feeling he is the head rep for their side, although Chief Talbert still has a major part.
 

30ashopper

SoWal Insider
Apr 30, 2008
6,846
3,471
56
Right here!
Buzz, I am not a numbers guy but did some more research and the return history of the plan is from Oct 2003, To Oct 2004: 10.96% 04-05: 12.32% 05-06: 9.12% 06-07: 15.75 07-08: -17.77% 08-09: 4.99% 09-10 8.35%. I was told that at the halfway point in this year it was at a little over 9%. I recieved these numbers from the Fund Monitor The Bogdahn Group. Buzz, since your a numbers guy I will let you figure the average return. To that point though I am still missing the first couple of years and will endeavor to find them. The way it was explained to me is this needs to average 8% over 30 years for the assumption to work. Buzz, enjoy the sand.

6.75% average. But your numbers don't jibe with the report Bob posted. They have:

Year ending: return
9/30/2010: 8.3%
9/30/2009: 7.7%
9/30/2008: -19.0%

On top of that the balance sheet shows a net gain in investment assets of around 3.8%. I'm sure this stuff adds up some way but at this point it would seem we really don't have accurate numbers. Maybe someone should contact the Board of Trustees and ask them to join the discussion, they should be able to clear this up, I hope.
 
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