Updated October 30, 2026. Quick answer: New Jersey PFRS retirees have no COLA to wait for: Chapter 78, P.L. 2011 suspended cost-of-living adjustments for retirees of all of the State’s retirement systems effective June 28, 2011, and the Division of Pensions and Benefits’ February 2026 PFRS guidebook still says the COLA is suspended. No 2027 adjustment is set.
What the law did
The Division’s PFRS guidebook says: “The Pension and Health Benefit Reform Law, N.J.S.A. 43:3B-2, suspended Cost-of-Living Adjustments (COLA) for retirees of all retirement systems.” Retirees keep what they already had: “there is no reduction to any COLA increases that were already added to retiree benefits prior to June 28, 2011, the effective date of the law.”
The Division’s letter on Chapter 78 puts it plainly: “Cost-of-Living Adjustments (COLA) are suspended for all current and future retirees of all retirement systems”, and the letter names the PFRS among them.
How a COLA could return
Chapter 78 provides for “Pension Committees which may consider reinstating the COLA when the retirement system reaches” a target funded ratio. The Division’s letter defines the ratio: “means a ratio of the value of assets against the accrued liabilities of 75% and increasing annually by equal increments over seven fiscal years to a ratio of 80%.” The enacted law text provides: “Commencing with the effective date of P.L.2011, c.78 and thereafter, no further adjustments to the monthly retirement allowance or pension” and goes on: “originally granted to any retirant and the pension or survivorship benefit granted to any beneficiary shall be made in accordance with the provisions of P.L.1958, c.143 (C.43:3B-1 et seq.), unless the adjustment is reactivated as permitted by law.”
Where 2027 stands
No 2027 PFRS COLA is set: the COLA stays suspended, the documents read give no reinstatement date, and this page updates if a pension committee reinstates it.
What this page does not cover
The documents read do not print the last PFRS COLA paid before the 2011 suspension, the current funded ratio against the target, or the status of any bill to restore the COLA. Check the Division of Pensions and Benefits for those.
Common mistakes
- Expecting a COLA from the old Pension Adjustment Act formula. Chapter 78 suspended it.
- Assuming earlier COLAs were taken back. The Division says there is no reduction to COLAs already added before June 28, 2011.
- Treating a bill in the Legislature as a COLA. Only a reinstatement under the law changes the suspension.
Related: New Jersey PFRS retirement decisions, how public pension decisions work, and whether New Jersey taxes pensions.
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Answer againSources
- NJ Division of Pensions and Benefits, PFRS Member Guidebook, February 2026: www.nj.gov
- NJ Division of Pensions and Benefits, Chapter 78, P.L. 2011, Pension Changes to the PFRS (employer letter): www.nj.gov
- NJ Legislature, P.L.2011, c.78 (enacted text): pub.njleg.state.nj.us
Read from the primary documents linked above on October 30, 2026. General information, not tax advice. Your own facts decide the outcome, and a preparer or the IRS itself is the right place to confirm anything consequential.