The Singing River Health System Employees’ Retirement Plan and Trust (“Plan”) currently provides an annual cost of living adjustment, commonly known as the “13th check” distributed in December each year in which an adjustment is authorized.

The purpose of the adjustment calculation is to provide additional retirement benefit after consideration of an increase in the cost of living in any period of time during the plan fiscal year which begins October 1 and ends September 30.

The Plan provides that when the cost of living index (“COLI”) has an increase in a given plan fiscal year, recipients receive a 13th check in an amount based upon 1/2 of the amount of the cost of living increase compared to the prior year cost of living increase not to exceed 2 1/2% of the retiree’s annual retirement benefit, multiplied by the number of years since retirement.

In a plan fiscal year in which the change in cost of living compared to the previous year is 0 or a decrease, the plan allows upon the recommendation of the trustee, to pay a cost of living adjustment equal to a percentage between 1% and 100% of the amount of the previous year’s cost of living payment. I encourage you to refer to the plan document located in the PDF file, Section 5.06 for a more detailed explanation.