Updated October 30, 2026. Quick answer: Louisiana MERS does not pay an automatic yearly COLA to retirees (the Board votes each one), and a 2027 increase is not set yet. The latest increase was 2.0% of original benefit, effective July 1, 2025, and MERS says no COLA is paid in 2026. MERS says more will be known about 2027 once the annual actuarial valuation is received in December, so there is no 2027 effective month until the Board votes one.
How a MERS COLA is granted
State law lets the Board of Trustees decide whether to pay one. R.S. 11:1761 says: “The amount of the adjustment shall not exceed two percent of the original benefit for each full calendar year of retirement. Such cost-of-living adjustments shall be paid only when such excess funds are available”. The funding test is in R.S. 11:243(G), which says no increase may be given “unless either the funds for such increase are provided as authorized from a credit balance in that system’s funding deposit account or the actuary for the system and the legislative auditor certify that the funded ratio of the system meets the requirements of one or more of the Subparagraphs in Paragraph (3) of this Subsection”. One of the three funded-ratio tests reads: “The system has a funded ratio of eighty percent or more and has not granted a benefit increase to retirees, survivors, and beneficiaries in either of the two most recent fiscal years.”
The other two tests in that paragraph are a higher funded ratio with a shorter wait and a lower one with a longer wait: “The system has a funded ratio of ninety percent or more and has not granted a benefit increase to retirees, survivors, and beneficiaries in the most recent fiscal year.” “The system has a funded ratio of seventy percent or more and has not granted a benefit increase to retirees, survivors, and beneficiaries in any of the three most recent fiscal years.”
MERS says on its side: “COLAs funded by the retirement system are not guaranteed.” A different route exists for a retiring member. The valuation’s summary of plan provisions says: “A member may also elect to receive an actuarially reduced benefit which provides for an automatic 2 ½% annual compound increase in monthly retirement benefits based on the reduced benefit and commencing on the later of age fifty-five or retirement anniversary; this COLA is in addition to any ad hoc COLAs which are payable”.
Who is eligible and who is left out
A retiree must have been retired for a period of “not less than one year”. under the statute. This page covers the retirees and survivors of Plan A and Plan B of the statewide Municipal Employees’ Retirement System of Louisiana. The Municipal Police and Firefighters’ systems have their own pages and are not covered here.
MERS reports the 2025 increase reached “Members who had been retired for at least one year as of July 1, 2025, received a 2% COLA.” A member retired for less than that time did not receive it.
The latest increase: 2025
The actuarial valuation records how the last COLA was set: “The system’s Board of Trustees voted in the March 20, 2025 board meeting to approve a 2.0% of original benefit cost-of-living increase to all retirees and survivors who have received benefits for at least one year.” “The COLA was effective July 1, 2025 and was funded through a reduction in each plan’s Funding Deposit Account.”
The valuation also shows earlier grants of 1.6% of original benefit in 2022 and 1.5% in 2009, so increases have come irregularly and at different sizes. One gap to know about: the sources do not say how the excess interest earnings in the statute and the Funding Deposit Account in the valuation fit together beyond what is quoted here.
Where 2027 stands
The 2027 MERS COLA is not set yet: the MERS Board of Trustees decides within the statutory funding and frequency tests, and this page updates when MERS publishes a 2027 COLA.
The April 2026 MERS Messenger says: “A COLA will not be paid this year. A 2% COLA was paid on July 1, 2025, and the increase in benefit amounts due to that COLA will continue.” The October 2026 issue adds: “Once the system’s annual actuarial valuation is received in December, more will be known about whether a COLA will be possible in 2027.”
The 2025 valuation also states: “Based on the frequency rules within R.S. 11:243, the Board of Trustees is not authorized to grant a cost-of-living increase following this valuation.” Whether the frequency rules allow an increase in 2027 after the 2025 grant is not stated in any source read, so this page draws no conclusion on it.
Common mistakes
- Expecting a COLA every year. MERS says COLAs are not guaranteed, and none was paid in 2026.
- Applying a percentage to your current check. The statute measures the increase against the original benefit for each full calendar year of retirement, up to its cap.
- Treating the October 2026 Messenger as a 2027 announcement. It only says more will be known once the December valuation is received.
Related: Louisiana MERS retirement decisions, how public pension decisions work, and whether Louisiana taxes pensions.
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Answer againSources
- Louisiana State Legislature (legis.la.gov), R.S. 11:1761 Cost-of-living adjustment; nonrecurring lump-sum benefit: www.legis.la.gov
- Louisiana State Legislature (legis.la.gov), R.S. 11:243 Cost-of-living adjustments; permanent benefit increases; restrictions; funding criteria: www.legis.la.gov
- Municipal Employees’ Retirement System of Louisiana, MERS Messenger, Issue No. 20, April 2026: mersla.com
- Municipal Employees’ Retirement System of Louisiana (actuary’s report in the 12/11/2025 board packet), MERS Actuarial Valuation, June 30, 2025: mersla.com
- Municipal Employees’ Retirement System of Louisiana, MERS Messenger, Issue No. 19, October 2025: mersla.com
- Municipal Employees’ Retirement System of Louisiana, MERS Messenger, Issue No. 21, October 2026: mersla.com
- 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.