Updated October 30, 2026. Quick answer: The Delaware County and Municipal Police/Firefighters Pension Plan has no automatic COLA: increases are only granted upon legislative approval. The only increase the plan booklet names is 1%, given 01/01/2015. A 2027 increase is not set yet.
No automatic adjustment
The current plan booklet says: “Pension law does not provide for automatic post-retirement increases. Increases are only granted upon legislative approval. 1% was given 01/01/2015.” The actuarial valuation as of June 30, 2025 agrees: “Cost-of-living adjustments are made only on an ad hoc basis.”
What the statute says
Delaware’s code ties this plan’s pensions to the State Employees’ plan. Its section 8825(a) provides: “A pension payable under this chapter shall be adjusted no less liberally than adjustments made for pensions payable under the State Employees’ Pension Plan, taking into account adjustments to Social Security benefits payable to state employees.” Section 8825(b) also set a one-time adjustment effective July 1, 2005, for certain pensions then payable: the difference between the benefit computed under the chapter and the benefit previously awarded. The archived sources do not say whether the State’s 2026 increases were applied to this plan, so this page does not claim that they were.
The last increase named
The booklet names a single increase, 1%, given 01/01/2015, in the same sentence that says increases are only granted upon legislative approval. The act that granted it and its enactment date are not identified in the sources, and no later increase appears in the booklet or in the actuarial valuation. Neither document shows a 2026 or 2027 adjustment for this plan, so a retiree who wants to know whether a recent State increase reached this plan should ask the Delaware Office of Pensions directly.
Who is left out, and where 2027 stands
No 2027 increase is set: the plan booklet says increases are only granted upon legislative approval and the archived sources show no 2026 or 2027 adjustment for this plan, and this page updates when the General Assembly passes one. This page covers pensioners of the County and Municipal Police/Firefighters Pension Plan under Title 11, Chapter 88. The State Employees’ Pension Plan is named separately in the statute and is not covered here. Because the statute links this plan to the State Employees’ plan, a State increase is the thing to watch, but the sources do not say how such a link would be applied, and this page does not predict a result.
Common mistakes
- Expecting a yearly raise. The booklet says pension law does not provide for automatic post-retirement increases.
- Assuming a State Employees’ plan increase also reached this plan. The statute links the two, but the sources do not show that a given increase was applied here.
- Treating the 1% as a recent raise. The booklet dates it 01/01/2015 and names nothing later.
Related: Delaware County and Municipal Police/Firefighters plan retirement decisions, how public pension decisions work, and whether Delaware taxes pensions.
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Answer againSources
- Delaware Office of Pensions, County & Municipal Police/Firefighters Pension Plan Summary Plan Description: open.omb.delaware.gov
- Delaware Office of Pensions / Cheiron, Actuarial Valuation as of June 30, 2025 (Cheiron): open.omb.delaware.gov
- Delaware General Assembly, Delaware Code Title 11 Chapter 88 (County and Municipal Police/Firefighters Pension Plan): delcode.delaware.gov
- Related official page (not quoted): IRS Tax Topic 410, Pensions and annuities: www.irs.gov
- Related official page (not quoted): IRS Tax Topic 411, Pensions: the General Rule and the Simplified Method: www.irs.gov
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.