Terms Used In Florida Statutes 121.71

  • Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
  • Benefit: means any pension payment, lump-sum or periodic, to a member, retiree, or beneficiary, based partially or entirely on employer contributions or employee contributions, if applicable. See Florida Statutes 121.021
  • Calendar month: means one of the 12 divisions of a year as determined by the Gregorian calendar (e. See Florida Statutes 121.021
  • Compensation: means the monthly salary paid a member by his or her employer for work performed arising from that employment. See Florida Statutes 121.021
  • Division: means the Division of Retirement in the department. See Florida Statutes 121.021
  • Employer: means any agency, branch, department, institution, university, institution of higher education, or board of the state, or any county agency, branch, department, board, district school board, municipality, metropolitan planning organization, or special district of the state which participates in the system for the benefit of certain of its employees, or a charter school or charter technical career center that participates as provided in…. See Florida Statutes 121.021
  • Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
  • Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
  • Member: means any officer or employee who is covered or who becomes covered under this system in accordance with this chapter. See Florida Statutes 121.021
  • Pension: means monthly payments to a retiree derived as provided in this chapter. See Florida Statutes 121.021
  • system: means the general retirement system established by this chapter, including, but not limited to, the defined benefit program administered under this part, referred to as the "Florida Retirement System Pension Plan" or "pension plan" and the defined contribution program administered under part II of this chapter, referred to as the "Florida Retirement System Investment Plan" or "investment plan. See Florida Statutes 121.021
  • System Trust Fund: means the trust fund established in the State Treasury by this chapter for the purpose of holding and investing the contributions paid by members and employers and paying the benefits to which members or their beneficiaries may become entitled. See Florida Statutes 121.021

(1) In conducting the system actuarial study required under s. 121.031, the actuary shall follow all requirements specified to determine, by Florida Retirement System employee membership class, the dollar contribution amounts necessary for the next fiscal year for the pension plan. In addition, the actuary shall determine, by Florida Retirement System membership class, based on an estimate for the next fiscal year of the gross compensation of employees participating in the investment plan, the dollar contribution amounts necessary to make the allocations required under ss. 121.72, 121.73, and 121.735. For each employee membership class and subclass, the actuarial study must establish a uniform rate necessary to fund the benefit obligations under both Florida Retirement System retirement plans by dividing the sum of total dollars required by the estimated gross compensation of members in both plans.
(2) Based on the uniform rates set forth in subsections (3), (4), and (5), employees and employers shall make monthly contributions to the Division of Retirement as required in s. 121.061(1), which shall initially deposit the funds into the Florida Retirement System Contributions Clearing Trust Fund. A change in a contribution rate is effective the first day of the month for which a full month’s employer and employee contribution may be made on or after the beginning date of the change. Beginning July 1, 2011, each employee shall contribute the contributions required in subsection (3). The employer shall deduct the contribution from the employee’s monthly salary, and the contribution shall be submitted to the division. These contributions shall be reported as employer-paid employee contributions, and credited to the account of the employee. The contributions shall be deducted from the employee’s salary before the computation of applicable federal taxes and treated as employer contributions under 26 U.S.C. § 414(h)(2). The employer specifies that the contributions, although designated as employee contributions, are being paid by the employer in lieu of contributions by the employee. The employee does not have the option of choosing to receive the contributed amounts directly instead of having them paid by the employer to the plan. Such contributions are mandatory, and each employee is considered to have consented to payroll deductions. Payment of an employee’s salary or wages, less the contribution, is a full and complete discharge and satisfaction of all claims and demands for the service rendered by employees during the period covered by the payment, except their claims to the benefits to which they may be entitled under this chapter.
(3) Required employee retirement contribution rates for each membership class and subclass of the Florida Retirement System for both retirement plans are as follows:

Membership Class Percentage of
Gross
Compensation,
Effective
July 1, 2011
 
Regular Class 3.00%
Special Risk Class 3.00%
Special Risk
 Administrative
 Support Class		 3.00%
Elected Officers’ Class–
 Legislators, Governor,
 Lt. Governor,
 Cabinet Officers,
 State Attorneys,
 Public Defenders		 3.00%
Elected Officers’ Class–
 Justices, Judges		 3.00%
Elected Officers’ Class–
 County Elected Officers		 3.00%
Senior Management Service Class 3.00%
DROP 0.00%
(4) Required employer retirement contribution rates for each membership class and subclass of the Florida Retirement System for both retirement plans are as follows:

Membership Class Percentage of
Gross
Compensation,
Effective
July 1, 2023
 
Regular Class 6.73%
Special Risk Class 18.66%
Special Risk
 Administrative
 Support Class		 11.54%
Elected Officers’ Class–
 Legislators, Governor,
 Lt. Governor,
 Cabinet Officers,
 State Attorneys,
 Public Defenders		 10.45%
Elected Officers’ Class–
 Justices, Judges		 14.90%
Elected Officers’ Class–
 County Elected Officers		 12.39%
Senior Management Service Class 8.56%
DROP 8.49%
(5) In order to address unfunded actuarial liabilities of the system, the required employer retirement contribution rates for each membership class and subclass of the Florida Retirement System for both retirement plans are as follows:

Membership Class Percentage of
Gross
Compensation,
Effective
July 1, 2023
 
Regular Class 4.78%
Special Risk Class 11.95%
Special Risk
 Administrative
 Support Class		 26.22%
Elected Officers’ Class–
 Legislators, Governor,
 Lt. Governor,
 Cabinet Officers,
 State Attorneys,
 Public Defenders		 50.21%
Elected Officers’ Class–
 Justices, Judges		 27.93%
Elected Officers’ Class–
 County Elected Officers		 44.23%
Senior Management Service Class 23.90%
DROP 10.64%
(6) If a member is reported under an incorrect membership class and the amount of contributions reported and remitted is less than the amount required, the employer shall owe the difference, plus the delinquent fee, of 1 percent for each calendar month or part thereof that the contributions should have been paid. The delinquent assessment may not be waived. If the contributions reported and remitted are more than the amount required, the employer shall receive a credit to be applied against future contributions owed.
(7) The state actuary shall recognize and use an appropriate level of available excess assets of the Florida Retirement System Trust Fund to offset the difference between the normal costs of the Florida Retirement System and the statutorily prescribed contribution rates.
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