Click or View VEBA Presentation Updated

Click ot View Addendum Ratification & Presentation Notice

The PBA and the Sheriff have signed off on the VEBA agreement. As people know, we held the vote the week of May 9th, 2016 and the documents were ratified overwheklmingly.

Friday – May 13th, 2016 a ratification vote was concluded and the results duly announced; the VEBA between the Parties was ratified as follows:

Law Enforcement:
402 For Ratification
76 Against Ratification

Corrections:
140 For Ratification
57 Against Ratification

Civilians
292 For Ratification
198 Against Ratification

However, bargaining unit members did have concerns about there not being enough time prior to the vote to review the documents. What we have decided to do is to conduct additional presentations as follows:

Location: PBSO Headquarters – Classroom B, 3228 Gun Club Road, West Palm Beach, Florida

Dates/Times:
May 31st – 0700/1200/1600
June 1st – 0900/1200/1800
June 2nd – 0900/1200/1800

The following week a ratification vote will be held as follows:

Location: Palm Beach County PBA Hall, 2100 North Florida Mango, West Palm Beach, Florida 33409

Dates/Times:
June 6th – 0900 to 1600
June 7th – 0900 to 1900
June 8th – 0900 to 1600

Please make an effort to attend at least one presentation and vote.

Voluntary Employee Beneficiary Association

• Employer contribution whose sole purpose is to provide employee benefits, in the form of a trust fund, under Federal Tax Law
• Tax free money used to supplement health care costs for retirees

Current Healthcare Benefits for Retiree’s

• The Sheriff contributes $16 dollars, for every year of service with PBSO, until your retirement date
• The State of Florida also contributes $5 dollars for every year of service, up to 30 years maximum (enrollment in DROP is considered retirement and employee doesn’t collect the benefit during DROP employment)

Current Healthcare Benefits for Retiree’s

D/S Jones retires with 25 years of service. His benefit would be as follows
$16 X 25 years of service = $400 from PBSO
$5 X 25 years of service = $125 from State of Florida
Total benefit would be $525 a month towards health care costs (premiums) which is taxable income.

Limitations of the Current Healthcare Supplement

• The health care supplement, provided by the Sheriff, is paid directly to Cigna not the member
• Cigna increases the member’s cost for health care, if they move out of the state of Florida

Proposed VEBA

• Contribute a percentage of upcoming cost of living allowance (COLA) raises, over the course of 3 years, into an established VEBA account. This would supplement additional money to the current post retirement health care system, provided by the Sheriff
• Requires an actuarial study to be completed, to determine amount needed for employer contribution as well as the defined benefit distributed to the retired employee
• Current employees are grandfathered in to receive the current benefits, from the Sheriff, as well as the VEBA money
• Sheriff has proposed that once the VEBA is implemented new hire employees would only receive the VEBA benefit

Benefits of Proposed VEBA

• Benefits will be available for members for their entire life, once they retire, regardless of the health care provider they choose.
• Benefits would pass on to the member’s spouse, upon their death.
• Benefits will be paid to members, regardless of what state or country they retire to.
• Benefits are pre-tax, going into the VEBA, and are also paid tax free to the member once they retire.

Portion of checkout money required to be contributed for those employees leaving prior to 2022

Click or View VEBA Presentation Updated