Thanks to a big gain in the value of the state’s pension fund, 20,000 retirees could get a 2.6 percent cost-of-living increase.

The board of the Public Employee Retirement System of Idaho, PERSI, voted this week to grant the maximum allowable increase in pensions, based on changes in the Consumer Price Index.<

The benefit increase goes to the next session of the Legislature. If the Legislature doesn’t act to modify the recommendation by the 45th day of the session, it automatically goes into effect as of March 1.

The retirement board said its pension fund investments did extremely well in fiscal year 1995, earning 14.6 percent, the best return in a decade. The value of the fund increased $508 million, from $2.7 billion to $3.2 billion.