(a) Once each year the administrator shall increase benefit payments to eligible disabled members, to persons age 60 or older receiving benefits under this plan in the preceding calendar year, and to persons who have received benefits under this plan for at least five years who are not otherwise eligible for an increase under this section.(b) The increase in benefit payments applies to total benefit payments except for the cost-of-living allowance under Alaska Stat. § 39.35.480. The amount of the increase is a percentage of the current benefit equal to
(1) the lesser of 75 percent of the increase in the cost of living in the preceding calendar year or nine percent, for recipients who on July 1 are at least 65 years old and for members receiving disability benefits; and(2) the lesser of 50 percent of the increase in the cost of living in the preceding calendar year or six percent, for recipients who on July 1 are at least 60 but less than 65 years old or for recipients who are less than 60 years old on July 1 but who have received benefits from the plan for at least five years.(c) If a recipient was not receiving benefits during the entire preceding calendar year, the increase in benefits under this section shall be adjusted by multiplying it by the fraction whose numerator is the number of months for which benefits were received in the preceding calendar year and whose denominator is 12.(d) If at the time of first receiving a retirement benefit a member was receiving a disability benefit under this plan, the administrator shall, at the time the member is appointed to retirement, increase the retirement benefit by a percentage equal to the total cumulative percentage increase that has been applied to the member’s disability benefit under this section.(e) When computing an occupational death benefit under Alaska Stat. § 39.35.430 or 39.35.440 or a survivor’s benefit under Alaska Stat. § 39.35.450, adjustments granted to the deceased member or survivor under this section shall be included.(f) An increase in benefit payments under this section is effective July 1 of each year and is based on the percentage increase in the consumer price index for urban wage earners and clerical workers for Anchorage, Alaska during the previous calendar year as determined by the United States Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics.
