PERSI, the Public Employee Retirement System of Idaho, will postpone its contribution rate increase that had been scheduled for next July 1, based on the system's current strong funding position and the impact an increase would have on the budgets of public employers and employees in the coming year. "Significant investment gains in recent months bolstered PERSI's funding status to nearly 88 percent, relieving the need for a rate increase at this time," said Jody Olson, chairman of the PERSI board. "We are confident postponing the rate increase will not compromise PERSI's stability, and we know how much it will help the state and other public employers and their employees manage tight budgets. The action taken today will provide some much-needed breathing room."

Postponing or even cancelling rate increases is not uncommon for PERSI; two others were first postponed and then canceled in the past decade due to the system's strong funding position.

The PERSI board also announced today that it'll grant PERSI retirees a mandatory 1 percent cost-of-living adjustment effective March 1, 2011; that's based on a measure of consumer prices that went up 1.15 percent from August of 2009 to August of 2010. PERSI has 125,000 members, retirees and beneficiaries and 739 employers, the largest of which is the state; local governments across the state also take part. You can read PERSI's full announcement on the rate increase here and its COLA announcement here.