Updated October 30, 2026. Quick answer: The North Dakota Teachers’ Fund for Retirement (TFFR) has no automatic COLA: its member handbook says the plan does not contain provisions for automatic cost of living adjustments. Past increases are set out in the Century Code, and the last is a one-time supplemental payment made in December 2009. A 2025 bill for a one-time supplement failed. No 2027 increase is set.
What the handbook says
The TFFR member handbook says: “The TFFR pension plan does not contain provisions for automatic cost of living adjustments to retirement benefit.”
The last increase in the code
Chapter 15-39.1 of the Century Code describes it: “The supplemental payment is equal to an amount determined by taking twenty dollars multiplied by the member’s number of years of service credit plus fifteen dollars multiplied by the number of years since the member’s retirement as of January 1, 2009.” “The supplemental payment may not exceed the greater of ten percent of the member’s annual annuity or seven hundred fifty dollars. The board shall make the supplemental payment in December 2009.”
An older conditional adjustment
The same chapter has an earlier annual adjustment with a condition: “This annual benefit adjustment is conditioned on an actuarial test performed annually by the board’s actuarial consultant to determine the actuarial adequacy of the statutory contribution rate.” The sources read do not say whether it continued past 2002.
The 2025 bill
The legislative page for the 2025 bill shows: “Second reading, failed to pass, yeas 3 nays 88”. The retirement office testified: “The proposed transfer of funds and payment of a one-time supplement to TFFR pensioners will not impact the TFFR Fund actuarially.”
What the documents do not say
The TFFR landing pages returned errors, so the handbook is the system’s own statement. The enactment date of the 2009 law is not in the archived text, and the 2026 special sessions were not examined beyond the bill’s status page.
Where 2027 stands
No 2027 TFFR increase is set: the handbook says the plan has no automatic COLA, and the 2025 bill for a one-time supplement failed.
Common mistakes
- Expecting a yearly COLA. The handbook says there is no automatic provision.
- Reading the December 2009 payment as a percentage COLA. It was a one-time dollar formula with a cap.
- Applying this page to NDPERS. The state employees’ system has its own page.
Related: North Dakota TFFR retirement decisions, how public pension decisions work, and whether North Dakota taxes pensions.
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Answer againSources
- North Dakota Retirement and Investment Office, Teachers’ Fund for Retirement Member Handbook: www.rio.nd.gov
- North Dakota Legislative Assembly, North Dakota Century Code chapter 15-39.1, Teachers’ Fund for Retirement: ndlegis.gov
- North Dakota Legislative Branch, HB 1285 Overview (2025 Regular Session): ndlegis.gov
- North Dakota House Government and Veterans Affairs Committee / RIO, HB 1285 committee minutes and RIO testimony: ndlegis.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.