LA PLATA — Charles County’s volunteer firefighters and EMTs who have earned retirement benefits will keep getting their checks without the fund that pays them having to sell off investments, after the county fire board moved this year’s $1.15 million deposit up by a month.
The Charles County Board of Fire and Rescue Commissioners voted at its October meeting to ask the county to transfer $1,149,387 budgeted for the Length of Service Award Program, or LOSAP, into the program’s account right away instead of with the regular fire and EMS distribution in mid- to late November. No opposition was heard on the voice vote.
LOSAP is the county’s retirement-style benefit for longtime volunteers. Projections showed the account used to pay benefits would come up short in December, members said. In past years the board covered that gap by moving money out of the invested portion of the fund. This year, the county finance office asked whether the annual LOSAP money could simply arrive early.
“This action will allow the portfolio to remain whole and still meet the intent of the fund,” Chairman Len Gilroy said before the vote, adding that he had spoken with the county’s finance director that day. Members said selling investments now, when they are performing well, would be unwise.
A $24.9 million fund, down in September
The fund held $24,940,534.48 at the end of September, according to the monthly LOSAP report read at the meeting, down about $737,649 from the end of August. Nearly all of it, about $24.7 million, sits in an investment account with Principal Financial. A smaller Wilmington Trust account, which held about $231,000, pays the benefits.
In September, that account paid:
- $98,769.89 in benefits to 336 retired volunteers, after two more recipients were added
- $891.35 in fees
- $101,660.74 in total expenses, including a reissued payment and a distribution payment
At roughly $100,000 a month, the payout account would run dry before the end of the year without new money, which is what the early transfer provides.
Payout changes coming
Bigger changes to the program are on the way. The LOSAP committee has been studying two options for changing how benefits are paid, and the head of the committee from the county’s finance office is scheduled to present them to the board in November. If the board endorses one, the change would have to be written into Chapter 54 of the county code, a process Gilroy said could take up to a year.
Budgets approved, one company on notice
The board also gave final approval to the 2027 fire and EMS distribution budgets it had tabled in September, clearing the way for the county to send fire and rescue tax money to the volunteer companies next month. The Chronicle detailed those budgets when the board unveiled an $18.4 million plan, only 86% of it funded, and later broke down where the money goes.
One company may not get its share on time. Gilroy said Company 10 still has not turned in required financial statements because it is waiting on its auditors. He said the board has historically held back a late company’s distribution for the same number of days its financial statements were late, calling it the only leverage the board has, and warned departments that late audits do them no favors.
