Starke County Commissioners Table Police Pension Fund Decision

Elaine Beatty and Sheriff Cowen discuss the Police Pension Fund with the Commissioners

Elaine Beatty, an Employee Benefits Consultant, and Sheriff Oscar Cowen appeared before the Starke County Commissioners during the Commissioners’ recent meeting to discuss the Police Pension Fund.

Beatty administers the Police Pension Fund in Starke County and she discussed a new plan for the officers.

“The Indiana Sheriff’s Association really took hold of it and it is available to all the county sheriff’s departments in the State of Indiana,” she told the Commissioners. “Right now, about 60 of them have this program available to their employees. It’s purely voluntary and there’s no cost to the county to add this program. The expenses come out of the investments which are mutual funds that require that expenses come out of them. Those are the fees that are paying organizations like Morgan Stanley for the program so there’s no fees to the membership.”

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Starke County Sheriff Seeks Approval for Supplemental Pension Fund

Sheriff Oscar Cowen
Sheriff Oscar Cowen

Starke County Sheriff Oscar Cowen came before the board of commissioners yesterday to ask approval for implementing a supplemental plan to the Police Pension Fund program.

“Morgan Stanley is offering a supplement to our retirement and they have to have approval through the Commissioners so the Auditor’s Office can deduct from the percentage of pay that the employees want to put into a supplement retirement,” Cowen told the Commissioners. “They are willing to come up and present a program, but they said they just need the approval of the Commissioners to have the supplement so the Auditor can deduct it from their pay.”

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