An Administrative Services Committee (ASC) is hereby created to deal with the annual establishment of staff pays, to review appeals of grievances which may be submitted by staff members against their supervisors, and to review complaints against the Executive Director of the Agency.

The ASC shall be comprised of three members of the LOPFI Board of Trustees, and two members of the Arkansas Fire and Police Pension Review Board, to be appointed by the Chairman of the LOPFI Board. The members of both Boards or their designated members may meet in executive session concerning the Board's executive director, staff, or persons being considered for any of those positions. Such executive sessions must comply with the open public meetings requirements in A.C.A. 25-19-106, as amended.

At their November 13, 2014, meeting the Administrative Services Committee (ASC) approved a 1.7% COLA to be awarded to staff effective January 1, 2015. Two exceptions apply to this COLA award. Due to the salary range limitation as compared to their comparable position, the Executive Director and Assistant Director positions were approved a 1% COLA. The PRB, on December 3, 2014, and the LOPFI Board, on December 4, 2014, approved these actions.

Summary concluded.

The Boards' of the Arkansas Local Police and Fire Retirement System (LOPFI) and the Arkansas Fire and Police Pension Review Board (PRB) develop their annual budgets in compliance with State law. Expenses are allocated to maintain efficient and timely services to the membership, yet strive to improve Agency operations. In addition, stringent checks and balances are employed to ensure a thorough accounting of all expenditures. Each budget will include the categories of Personal Services, General Operating, and Professional Services and developed as follows:

Personal Services:

60% of salaries are funded by LOPFI and 40% are funded by PRB, with the exception of the Membership Coordinator position. Salary and all expenses for the Membership Coordinator position are funded in total by LOPFI. In addition, payroll taxes, retirement, and health insurance costs are funded 100% by LOPFI. Each position will use the following salary range for the 2015 budget:

All positions are eligible for a 2% - 4% merit raise each year until attaining the top of that position's range. The assumption used is that a person hired at the beginning of a salary range could achieve the top of that range at year 7 if awarded a 4% merit each year. On the 8^th anniversary and after reaching the top of the range, staff members are eligible for an annual career service award. The amount of the annual career service award will be the greater of:

Merit raises and annual career service awards are awarded based on the results of a favorable annual formal performance review.

On January 1^st of each year a COLA will be awarded to each staff member. The COLA will be determined by using the U.S. Department of Labor CPI Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers as a benchmark. To draft a new budget, the period used for a COLA calculation will be the previous year's September to the current year's September. Beginning with the 2006 budget the determined COLA will be factored into the beginning and top level of each salary range. The ASC retains flexibility as to the actual amount of a COLA award.

When a staff member is promoted and the beginning salary range of the new position is lower than that person's current salary, an increase of 5% will be added to that person's current salary.

The executive director is authorized to hire a candidate for a staff vacancy within the appropriate salary range. However, the latitude will be limited to any point from the beginning of the range up to and including the mid-point of the range. This provision will be an exception and used only in instances a particularly qualified candidate is considered for hire.

Once a year, the ASC shall review staff salaries for compliance with ACA 24-10-204.

Expenses for individual line items within the General Operating and Professional Services categories are budgeted one-half each with the further understanding that expenses specific to a particular Board are limited to that Board's budget. Two exceptions are the Insurance and Telephone line items. Insurance expenses are fully funded by LOPFI except for property insurance which is funded 50/50. The Telephone line item will use a 60/40 split. LOPFI will cover 60% and PRB 40%, except for website expenses which use a 50/50 arrangement.

Both Boards have authority to amend their respective budget throughout a budget year. Board authorized amendments may be handled by email ballot or deferred to the next scheduled Board meeting. If a budget change occurs as the result of an email ballot, the results will be provided at the next scheduled Board meeting.

When an individual line item requires amendment during a budget year, the executive director is authorized to make the adjustment by reallocating unexpended amount(s) from neighboring line items within that same category. It is understood this type of adjustment will not raise/lower the total budgeted amount for that category. The executive director will communicate such change(s) during the next scheduled Board meeting.

Investment income and employer contributions are the funding sources for LOPFI's expenses, while the PRB utilizes State Insurance Tax Turnback for its expenses. First Implemented June 2001