Louisiana Assessors Retirement Fund Decisions: Options and DROP

Updated October 30, 2026. Quick answer: A Louisiana Assessors’ Retirement Fund member who is eligible to retire takes a life allowance or a reduced one under Options 1 to 4, and the fund’s handbook says no change in the option is permitted once the application is officially filed. A member with more than the minimum service and age may instead elect Back-DROP, which adds a lump sum equal to the maximum monthly benefit times a period of up to thirty-six months. A member who leaves with twelve or more years may leave contributions in the fund; a refund cancels all rights and forfeits all service credit.

More on public pension COLAs for 2027: the Louisiana Assessors’ Retirement Fund COLA for 2027.

What this page covers and what it does not

This page covers the Louisiana Assessors’ Retirement Fund (LARF), the plan for assessors and the full-time employees of Louisiana assessors’ offices. The Association page for the fund says “Assessors and full time employees of assessors’ offices are required to participate in the fund”. Neighboring Louisiana systems are at Louisiana LASERS retirement decisions, Louisiana TRSL retirement decisions and Louisiana sheriffs pension retirement decisions.

Two documents carry the page. The first is the fund’s document titled “Employee Handbook,” dated July 1, 2024. It is a statute compilation, not a plain-language member guide: it describes itself as “meant to be an extract of the most important Louisiana Revised Statutes related to the Assessors’ Retirement Fund effective on that date”, and states “THIS IS NOT A LEGAL DOCUMENT AND IT IS NOT INTENDED TO SERVE AS A BASIS FOR LEGAL INTERPRETATION”. The second is the fund’s actuarial valuation report as of September 30, 2025, used for member counts and a plain summary of plan provisions. Disability retirement is outside this page.

The handbook also says “this handbook does not include provisions related to the Deferred Retirement Option Plan (DROP), formerly located in R.S. 11:1456. This section was repealed by Acts 2008, No. 398”. The lump sum option in the handbook is called Back-DROP.

Where the fund stands: member counts

The valuation reports, as of September 30, 2025, that “there are 738 active members in the system of whom 374 members have vested retirement benefits; 609 former members or their beneficiaries are receiving retirement benefits”. Its membership table totals a computed 1,501 (738 + 609 + 154).

When a pension can start and how it is figured

Eligibility depends on the hire date, as printed in the handbook’s version of R.S. 11:1421. The service and age tests are the ones in the table.

The monthly benefit is a percentage of final average compensation for each year of service. For first employment on or before September 30, 2006, the handbook pays “a monthly sum equal to three and one-third percent of the highest monthly average final compensation received during any thirty-six consecutive months”. From October 1, 2006 up to September 30, 2013 the rate is the same but the averaging period is any sixty consecutive months. For first employment on or after October 1, 2013, a member with under thirty years “shall be paid a monthly sum equal to three percent of the highest monthly average final compensation received during any sixty consecutive months”, while a member with thirty or more years is paid at three and one-third percent. The benefit is capped: “not to exceed one hundred percent of the member’s monthly average final compensation, after taking into account the reduction arising from any optional retirement selected”.

A computed example from an assumed $4,000 monthly average final compensation and an assumed 20 years of service, not a LARF figure: for a member hired on or after October 1, 2013 and retiring under thirty years, three percent times 20 years is a computed 60 percent of final compensation, or a computed $2,400 a month before any option reduction.

The election: a life allowance or Options 1 to 4

At retirement a member chooses how the allowance is paid. The handbook says: “any participant may elect to receive his benefit in a retirement allowance payable throughout life, or he or she may elect at that time to receive the actuarial equivalent of his retirement allowance in a reduced retirement payable throughout life”. The options differ in what a survivor receives.

In the handbook’s words, under Option 2 “Upon a member’s death, his or her reduced retirement allowance shall be continued throughout the life of and paid to his or her surviving spouse”, and under Option 3 “one-half of his or her reduced retirement allowance shall be continued throughout the life of and paid to his or her surviving spouse”. Option 4 reads: “Some other benefit or benefits shall be paid either to the member or to such person or persons as he shall nominate”, and the benefit must be “of equivalent actuarial value to his retirement allowance and approved by the board of trustees”.

For the maximum allowance, the handbook has a separate guarantee: “If the total of all benefits paid to a retiree and all benefits paid on his account after his death, if any, is less than the retiree’s accumulated employee contributions, the remaining accumulated employee contributions shall be paid to the retiree’s beneficiary”.

The reduction is not printed as a percentage. For a spouse chosen under Option 2, 3 or 4, “the actuarial equivalence and option reductions shall be based on the ages of the member and his or her beneficiary as of the member’s sixtieth birthday”. The fund’s own estimate shows the actual reduction.

A computed example from an assumed reduced allowance, not a LARF figure: suppose the reduced monthly allowance is an assumed $2,400. Under Option 2 the surviving spouse would continue to receive a computed $2,400 a month, and under Option 3 one-half of it, a computed $1,200 a month. Whether the reduction is worth the protection is framed at single-life versus joint-and-survivor pension.

What is irrevocable, and the deadlines

The handbook states that “No option shall become effective until the date specified by the member in his or her application for retirement”, and that “no selection of an option nor any change in the option selected shall be permitted after the application has been officially filed with the board”. The application is the point of no return.

On timing, “If a written application for any benefits is received by the board within ninety days of the date the applicant became eligible for the benefit, benefits shall be paid retroactive to the date of becoming eligible therefor”, but if the application arrives later, “benefits shall be paid only from the date the application is received by the board”. The handbook also says no benefit is payable until the member has terminated service, so a member still working should confirm the sequence with the fund before filing.

Back-DROP: the lump sum option

LARF’s lump sum is called Back-DROP. The handbook describes it as an alternative to a normal benefit: “In lieu of receiving a normal retirement benefit pursuant to R.S. 11:1421 through 1423, an eligible member of the fund may elect to retire and have his benefits structured, calculated, and paid as provided in this Section”. An active, contributing member qualifies only if “The member has accrued more service credit than the minimum required for eligibility for a normal retirement benefit”. The member must also be above the minimum age, if one applies, and must have revoked any earlier participation in the repealed deferred retirement option plan.

The benefit has two parts: “The Back-DROP benefit shall have two portions: a lump-sum portion and a monthly benefit portion”. The period is chosen at retirement, and “The duration of the Back-DROP period shall not exceed the lesser of thirty-six months or the number of months of creditable service accrued after the member first attained eligibility for normal retirement”. The statute then provides that “the member shall be paid a lump-sum benefit equal to the Back-DROP maximum monthly retirement benefit multiplied by the number of months selected as the Back-DROP period”.

The cost shows up in the monthly benefit. The handbook says that “Accrued service at retirement shall be reduced by the Back-DROP period”, and “Final average compensation shall be calculated by excluding all earnings during the Back-DROP period”. Contributions received during the period “shall remain with the fund and shall not be refunded to the member or to the employer”. The lump sum carries no later raises: “Cost-of-living adjustments shall not be payable on the member’s Back-DROP lump sum”. The option choice also locks: “No change in the option selected or beneficiary shall be permitted after the option is filed with the board of trustees”.

A computed example from assumed inputs, not a LARF figure: if the maximum monthly retirement benefit calculated for Back-DROP were an assumed $3,000 and the member selected an assumed 24 months, the lump sum would be a computed $72,000 (3,000 times 24). At the thirty-six month ceiling it would be a computed $108,000.

Where a Back-DROP lump sum can go

The handbook offers one route that keeps the lump sum in a retirement arrangement: “the member may elect to transfer the lump-sum payment into a self-directed account managed by a third-party provider”. The member then carries the risk: “any returns and other rights of the plan are the sole liability and responsibility of the participant and the designated provider”.

The pages read do not state whether a Back-DROP lump sum can be paid as a direct rollover to an IRA, or how much tax is withheld on it. A computed example from an assumed $72,000 lump sum, not a LARF figure: if a lump sum of that size were paid to the member as a taxable eligible rollover distribution, 20% would be withheld under the IRS rule below, a computed $14,400. Whether it applies to Back-DROP is a question for the fund and a tax preparer. See 20% withholding on a pension lump sum.

Leaving before retirement: leave the money or take a refund

A member with twelve or more years who leaves before normal retirement age may leave the money in: “the former member may leave his contributions in the fund and, upon attaining the age required under the provisions of R.S. 11:1421, the former member shall be eligible for a regular retirement benefit”.

A refund is available to a former member who is not eligible to retire: “If the membership of a member who is not eligible to retire is terminated, the former member may make a written application for and obtain a refund of his accumulated employee contributions”. The refund is paid only after the assessor certifies the application and “the former member remains out of service for sixty days and until all contributions for the former member have been paid into the fund”. The cost is stated plainly: “Payment of such a refund to the former member cancels all rights in the fund; neither the former member nor any other person shall be entitled to any benefits on the former member’s account, and credit for all service shall be forfeited”. The handbook’s lump-sum statute (R.S. 11:155) exempts the return of accumulated contributions without interest from its lump-sum ban, which is general state-law language, but the pages read give no Assessors-specific statement of the refund amount, so a member should ask the fund for the exact amount before applying. The general trade-off is at pension refund versus leaving it.

A refund can be put back if the member returns: “he may repay to the fund, in a lump sum, the amount he withdrew, plus annually compounded interest at the valuation interest rate from the date of withdrawal”.

Rollover of a refund

The fund’s administrative rule on returned contributions says “an eligible rollover distribution shall be transferred in a direct rollover to an eligible retirement plan if so directed by the distributee”. The pages read do not give the fund’s rollover form or request deadlines, so the fund office is the place to confirm the process before a refund application is filed.

Buying service credit

The state price rule for service credit purchases, reproduced in the handbook, names the Assessors Retirement Fund. An authorized purchase is effective only on payment of the greater of two amounts: “An amount which, on an actuarial basis, totally offsets the increase in accrued liability of the system resulting from the purchase of the credit”, or the employee and employer contributions that would have been paid, plus interest compounded annually at the system’s assumed actuarial valuation rate. The rule does not cover putting back a refund: “This Section is inapplicable with respect to the purchase of service credit which is in the form of a repayment of a refund”. The handbook reproduces separate rules for credit for non-credited prior service (R.S. 11:1412) and for military service (R.S. 11:153, up to four years); the pages read do not price any purchase for a particular member. The break-even is set up at pension buyback calculator.

Cost-of-living increases

The handbook’s COLA statute gives the board discretion rather than a guarantee. It authorizes the board to “use excess interest earnings on investments of the system in excess of normal requirements as determined by the actuary to provide a cost-of-living increase in benefits for retired members or their beneficiaries in an amount not to exceed three percent of the original benefit, excluding any additional annuity, for each year of retirement but not to exceed three hundred dollars per year for each year of retirement”, with benefits paid “based on funds available”. A second, nonrecurring provision in the same statute (subsection B, effective July 1, 2008) lets the board grant one permanent monthly adjustment of up to three percent of the monthly benefit, not less than twenty dollars a month. The handbook also prints R.S. 11:247 in its body: a member of a state or statewide retirement system may elect, when applying for retirement or entering the Deferred Retirement Option Plan, an actuarially reduced allowance plus an annual 2.5 percent cost-of-living adjustment, an election that is irrevocable once the retirement or DROP participation begins. The pages read do not say whether this fund’s members fall under that section, so a member should ask the fund.

The valuation reports what happened most recently: “The system granted a cost-of-living adjustment to qualifying retirees and beneficiaries effective October 1, 2025”.

What the IRS adds on tax

A refund or lump sum from a public pension is a distribution, so the IRS rules apply on top of LARF’s own. On withholding, the IRS says that a taxable eligible rollover distribution paid to you “is subject to mandatory income tax withholding (generally at a rate of 20%), even if you intend to roll it over later”, and that “If you do roll it over and want to defer tax on the entire taxable portion, you’ll have to add funds from other sources equal to the amount withheld”. The handbook’s own rollover section describes direct rollovers; the IRS rules below apply to any payment made to the member instead. The rollover clock, if the money is paid to you: “you have 60 days from the date you receive it to roll it over to another eligible retirement plan”.

On early distributions the IRS says “the law imposes a 10% additional tax on certain early distributions from certain retirement plans”. Its list of exceptions includes “Distributions made to you after you separated from service with your employer after attainment of age 55” and “Distributions made to a qualified public safety employee from a governmental plan (within in the meaning of section 414(d)) provided that the qualified public safety employee has separated from service during or after the year in which they attained age 50 or 25 years of service under the plan, whichever is earlier”. Whether an exception fits a particular refund depends on your own plan and facts, so confirm it with a tax preparer before you take one.

Where the sources disagree

Option 1 is described two ways. The handbook measures the balance against what the member contributed (see the table above). The valuation summarizes it differently: “If the member dies before he has received in annuity payments the present value of his member’s annuity, as it was at the time of retirement, the balance is paid to his beneficiary”. Contributions and the member’s annuity are different measures, so the member should ask the fund which governs.

The valuation also adds a destination for the Back-DROP lump sum that the handbook extract does not describe: “The DROP / Back-DROP Account contains funds left on deposit by former members who completed DROP/Back-DROP and elected to leave their lump sum balance in the care of the retirement system following their retirement”. The handbook describes payment to the member or transfer to a self-directed account, so the process should be confirmed.

On raises, the handbook extract prints R.S. 11:1461 and lists the general cost-of-living statutes (R.S. 11:241, 11:242, 11:243, 11:246 and 11:247) in its table of contents (R.S. 11:247 is also printed in the handbook body, as described above), while the valuation says “Cost-of-living provisions for the system are detailed in R.S.11:1461, R.S. 11:246, R.S. 11:241, and R.S. 11:243”, and that “Since the Board granted a cost-of-living increase effective October 1, 2025 under R.S. 11:241 and R.S. 11:246”. Only the valuation says which of those statutes the board applied in 2025, so the valuation, not the handbook’s statute for the board’s discretionary increase, tells a retiree how a raise was actually paid.

What this page could not settle

• The handbook is a July 1, 2024 extract of statutes and the valuation is dated September 30, 2025; later changes are not reflected.
• The pages read do not print option reduction factors, so the cost of Options 1 to 4 for a particular member and beneficiary is unknown without the fund’s estimate.
• The pages read give no Assessors-specific statement on interest on a refund or on contributions left in the fund; R.S. 11:155 refers only in general terms to the return of accumulated contributions without interest.
• The pages read do not state whether a Back-DROP lump sum can be rolled over directly, how it is withheld for tax, or what deadline applies to the self-directed account election.
• The pages read do not describe spousal consent for a member who chooses the maximum allowance or a refund.
• The pages read do not price a service purchase for a particular member; the handbook reproduces the prior-service (R.S. 11:1412) and military-service (R.S. 11:153) purchase rules.
• The member counts are a point-in-time census from the September 30, 2025 valuation, not a current count.

Common mistakes

• Filing the retirement application before comparing the options; the handbook says no selection or change of option is permitted once the application is officially filed.
• Electing Back-DROP without checking the monthly benefit, because service and pay during the Back-DROP period are excluded from that calculation.
• Expecting a raise on a Back-DROP lump sum; the statute says no cost-of-living adjustment is payable on it.
• Taking a refund without weighing that it cancels all rights in the fund and forfeits credit for all service.

Related on this site: Louisiana LASERS retirement decisions, Louisiana TRSL retirement decisions, Louisiana sheriffs pension retirement decisions, Louisiana retirement taxes, pension refund versus leaving it, single-life versus joint-and-survivor pension, pension buyback calculator, 20% withholding on a pension lump sum and public pension retirement decisions by system.

Sources

• Louisiana Assessors’ Retirement Fund, The Louisiana Assessors’ Retirement Fund Employee Handbook (July 1, 2024, an extract of R.S. 11:1401 to 11:1494 and related law): https://www.louisianaassessors.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/The-Louisiana-Assessors-Retirement-Fund-Handbook-2024.pdf
• Louisiana Assessors’ Retirement Fund, LARF Actuarial Valuation Report 2025 (valuation as of September 30, 2025): https://www.louisianaassessors.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/LARF-Actuarial-Valuation-Report-2025.pdf
• Louisiana Assessors’ Association, Louisiana Assessors’ Retirement Fund page (read October 30, 2026): https://www.louisianaassessors.org/assessors-retirement/
• IRS, Topic no. 413, Rollovers from retirement plans (irs.gov): https://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc413
• IRS, Topic no. 558, Additional tax on early distributions from retirement plans other than IRAs (irs.gov): https://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc558

Sources: the primary documents linked above, read on October 30, 2026. General information from each system’s own published materials, not legal, tax or financial advice. Your own member statement and the system’s current rules decide your benefit, and a pension counsellor at the system or a fee-only adviser is the right place to confirm anything consequential.