Escambia County commissioners will vote tonight on authorizing over $318,000 in back retirement contributions for Supervisor of Elections Robert Bender and Commissioner Steven Barry, stemming from a court-ordered transition from the 401(a) retirement plan.
Background
The payments follow an April 2024 court ruling by Judge William Stone that found the 401(a) retirement plan for county commissioners was illegal. The ruling sided with County Clerk Pam Childers, who had stopped making payments to the plan in 2021, claiming it violated state law.
- Following the court order, Barry, Bender, and former Commissioner Lumon May were required to withdraw from the local plan and join FRS. Mission Square returned $197,153.71 in total contributions to the county in May 2024.
Barry and Bender have elected to purchase prior service credit in FRS for their time in the local plan, which requires both employee and employer contributions. The county is being asked to pay the employer’s contributions:
- $292,143.75 for Supervisor Bender
- $26,333.38 for Commissioner Barry (Barry was in the Mission Square for a shorter time)
The funds will come from the county’s General Fund, with any additional FRS costs paid from designated cost centers. The county has held $197K from Mission Square over a year, earning interest. The county also has the funds that the Clerk didn’t contribute to any retirement account for the commissioners for the past four years, which the Clerk should have escrowed or set aside on the county books as a liability.
The documents provided with the Agenda Item don’t show those calculations, but here is what has been provided:
Legal Status
The Clerk and commissioners have appealed the state’s final agency actions regarding the retirement transition, which temporarily suspends additional penalties and interest while appeals are pending.
- The agenda item is scheduled for consideration at tonight’s Escambia County Commission meeting at the County Governmental Complex, 221 Palafox Place.
Author: Rick Outzen
Rick Outzen is the publisher/owner of Pensacola Inweekly. He has been profiled in The New York Times and featured in several True Crime documentaries. Rick also is the author of the award-winning Walker Holmes thrillers. His latest nonfiction book is “Right Idea, Right Time: The Fight for Pensacola’s Maritime Park.”
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