Pensacola (Fla.) Police Officers' Retirement Fund will be closed to new hires effective Jan. 1.
Police officers hired after that date will be eligible to join the $127 billion Florida Retirement System, Tallahassee, according to a news release from Pensacola Mayor Ashton Hayward.
“Over the last 10 years, the city's annual pension costs have increased fivefold to more than $16 million a year,” Mr. Hayward said in the release. “That's more than we collect in ad valorem taxes, and that's simply not sustainable.”
The change will save the city $7 million to $10 million in liabilities, according to Mr. Hayward.
In the city's 2011 comprehensive annual report, the most recent available, the city lists the police fund's assets at $60 million with liabilities of $71 million.
Phone calls to Mr. Hayward and Richard Barker Jr., city chief financial officer, were not returned by press time.
