Cost-of-Living Adjustment

The cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for September 2009 through August 2010 benefit payments is 1.0%. As a result, an eligible retired member with an annual benefit of $18,000 or more received a monthly increase of $15.

This latest COLA brings the cumulative maximum monthly increase since COLA legislation was enacted in 2001 to $192 (see chart below).

New York's permanent, automatic COLA is designed to help offset inflation's adverse effects on the fixed retirement benefits of the state's public retirees. By law, the COLA is calculated by taking 50% of the March-to-March Consumer Price Index increase (rounded up to the next higher one-tenth of 1%) and multiplying it by the first $18,000 of the retirement benefit. The annual increase is a minimum of 1% to a maximum of 3%. As a result, even though the CPI declined 0.38% between March 2008 and March 2009, those receiving a NYSTRS retirement benefit payment received a 1% COLA increase.

To be eligible for a COLA, you must either be:

• At least 62 and retired at least five years; or,
• At least 55 and retired at least 10 years; or,
• A retiree receiving a NYSTRS disability benefit for at least five years (regardless of age); or,
• A surviving spouse of an eligible retiree receiving a lifetime benefit. (By law, the spouse receives an increase equal to one-half the COLA the retiree would have received.)

Retirees who become eligible for the COLA after September will receive their adjustment when first eligible.

The table below indicates COLA percentages and maximum increases dating to September 2001, when COLA legislation took effect.