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the city council of the impacted city <br />unless the cost of the benefit increase <br />is fully covered by the individual or <br />the legislation addresses a clerical or <br />administrative error. <br />HR -9. Retirement Work Incentives <br />Issue: Demographic experts warn that as the <br />baby boomers retire, employers will begin to <br />experience a significant labor shortage and <br />lose the substantial expertise and knowledge <br />of a fully -trained workforce. One solution <br />to the coming labor shortage is to provide <br />some incentives for retirees to postpone full <br />retirement with a "phased -in" approach that <br />would allow "knowledge transfer" to take <br />place between the retiree and less - <br />experienced replacement staff. <br />The Phased Retirement Option (PRO) <br />program was created by PERA for this <br />purpose. The PRO program meets many of <br />the goals of workforce planning However, <br />cities would benefit from broadening the <br />criteria for participation; currently, only <br />employees age 62 or older can participate. <br />In addition, the program is scheduled to <br />sunset in 2019. The program, as introduced, <br />allows for five one-year renewals, which <br />may be more than is needed to meet the <br />intended purpose. <br />Response: The League of Minnesota <br />Cities supports changes to the PRO <br />program (if actuarially neutral for PERA <br />pension plans) that would: <br />a) Broaden the criteria for participation <br />to allow employees to participate at a <br />younger age if such a change can be <br />made without damaging the tax - <br />favored status of the plan. <br />b) Remove the sunset provision to allow <br />the plan to continue past 2019. <br />c) Reduce the number of one-year <br />renewals from five to three. <br />HR -10. State Paid Police and Fire <br />Medical Insurance <br />Issue: Minn. Stat. § 299A.465 requires <br />public employers to continue health <br />insurance benefits for firefighters and peace <br />officers injured in the line of duty. When the <br />law was enacted in 1997, it contained a <br />provision requiring the Department of <br />Public Safety (DPS) to reimburse employers <br />for the full amount of administering this <br />benefit. <br />By 2002, the fund created to provide this <br />benefit became deficient. Instead of <br />increasing the fund, the 2003 Legislature <br />amended the law to pro -rate reimbursements <br />to cities based on the amount available and <br />the number of eligible applicants. The 2003 <br />law change triggered a significant and <br />unanticipated cost to cities. The cost has <br />increased every year for cities, and the <br />funding for the account has never been <br />increased. Even if the health insurance <br />benefit was discontinued entirely, the costs <br />for existing recipients will substantially <br />increase well into the future due to the <br />growing cost of health insurance. <br />In 2015, the Legislature expanded the health <br />insurance benefit to include survivors of <br />volunteer firefighters who die in the line of <br />duty. This change increased the number of <br />firefighters eligible for this benefit from <br />2,000 to 20,000—without increasing <br />funding for the reimbursement account. <br />Response: The League of Minnesota <br />Cities supports the following legislative <br />actions to address the funding deficiency <br />in this program: <br />a) The state must fully fund programs <br />that pay for health insurance for <br />police and fire employees injured in <br />the line of duty and dependents of <br />police and fire employees killed in the <br />League of Minnesota Cities <br />2016 City Policies Page 79 <br />