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Law enforcement: 25 years of Special Risk is not 25 years of service.

A police officer talking with people on a street

Sworn years, and the years that look like them

Special Risk is a position classification. Sworn years accrue at 3.00%. Years in a Regular Class position accrue at 1.60%: same agency, same badge on the wall.

A year at the lower rate can still count toward your Special Risk normal retirement date. That is a separate question from what it accrued at, and the answer is sometimes yes: on application, never automatically. See Pension Plan for how the Administrative Support Class works.

Worth pulling your own record before you assume either answer.

One band of service split into years worked in a Special Risk position and years worked in a Regular Class position. Read for the accrual rate, the two halves answer differently: 3.00 per cent and 1.60 per cent. Read for the Special Risk normal retirement date, years in a Regular Class position may still count where the Special Risk Administrative Support Class applies. THE SAME YEARS, READ TWICE Years in a Special Risk position Years in a Regular Class position What rate does the year accrue at? 3.00% 1.60% Does the year count toward your Special Risk date? sometimes yes, on both sides — Rule 60S-1.0054
The band is two kinds of year, not a quantity; nothing here is a split of anyone’s record. The Administrative Support Class is not automatic and is not granted without an application.

First: are you even in FRS?

Several large Florida municipal departments run their own Chapter 175/185 plans and do not participate in FRS. Tampa PD, Miami PD, and legacy JSO among them.

If that is you, none of the FRS material on this site applies, including ours. Your plan has its own rules and its own DROP if it has one.

There is a second consequence: Social Security coverage is required for FRS members but not automatic for Chapter 175/185 participants. That is one of the few situations where the WEP and GPO repeal genuinely changes something.

The gap

Reaching normal retirement at 55 means seven years before Social Security and ten before Medicare. The pension starts immediately. Everything else in those years comes from the DROP accumulation, deferred comp, or savings.

Normal retirement at 55. Social Security seven years before it. Medicare ten years. The pension starts immediately. ten years seven years The pension starts immediately normal retirement at 55 Social Security Medicare

The COLA floor

The 1.5% minimum COLA for Special Risk retirees starts at your fifth anniversary as a retiree, not at your retirement date. That is the part being misread. See Pension Plan for who qualifies.

Important

This page is educational and is not individualized advice. Benowitz Wealth Management is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by the Florida Retirement System, the Florida Division of Retirement, or the State Board of Administration of Florida. Confirm the figures that apply to your own record at MyFRS.com or with the Division of Retirement.

Your Special Risk years and your total years can tell different stories. It helps to know which one your benefit uses.

Independent, fee-only retirement planning for Florida’s public employees, built around your FRS benefit and everything you’ve built on the side.

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