Updated October 30, 2026. Quick answer: The Mississippi Highway Safety Patrol Retirement System (MHSPRS) pays a formula COLA written into the PERS regulation and handbook, not tied to a CPI index. It equals 3% of the annual base benefit for each full fiscal year of retirement before the year the member reaches age 60, plus 3% compounded for each fiscal year after that. It is paid in one payment in December unless the retiree elects 12 monthly installments by an irrevocable written election filed at least 30 days before July 1. The December 2027 COLA follows the same formula.
The formula
The MHSPRS member handbook says: “the COLA is equal to 3 percent of your annual base benefit for each full fiscal year of retirement prior to the year in which you reach age 60, plus 3 percent compounded for each fiscal year thereafter”. Compounding age: “Effective July 1, 2002, the age at which compounding begins is age sixty (60).”
Who is eligible and when
The PERS regulation says the additional benefit goes to anyone “who has received a monthly benefit for at least one (1) full fiscal year, shall be eligible to receive an additional benefit”. The handbook adds: “If you retire effective July 1, you would be eligible for the COLA during the fiscal year beginning 12 months later on July 1.”
How it is paid
The regulation says: “The additional benefit shall be paid in one (1) payment in December of each year to those persons who are receiving a retirement allowance on December 1 of that year, unless an election is made as noted below.” The handbook says: “You may irrevocably elect to receive your COLA in 12 equal monthly installments. If you do not make that election, your COLA will be paid annually in one lump sum payment on or about December 15.”
Notices
PERS describes its notice: “PERS sends individualized Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA) notices in late June/early July of each year to inform retirees of their December COLA amount”.
What the documents do not say
The Mississippi statute text could not be archived, so the formula rests on the PERS regulation and handbook, which cite it. The handbook’s rate tables were not read, and a PERS plan summary table was read only as a cross-check: its Highway Patrol column also shows compounding beginning at age 60. The COLA notice PDF is undated.
Where 2027 stands
The December 2027 MHSPRS COLA is fixed by the same formula as the regulation reads today: compounding from age 60, which the regulation allows the board to lower. PERS sends each retiree an individual notice in late June or early July, and the archive holds no 2027 notice.
Common mistakes
- Expecting a CPI-linked COLA. The formula is a fixed 3% rate.
- Expecting the COLA in the first year. A retiree must have received benefits for at least one full fiscal year.
- Applying this page to the regular Mississippi PERS plan. It has its own page.
Related: Mississippi Highway Safety Patrol Retirement System retirement decisions, how public pension decisions work, and whether Mississippi taxes pensions.
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Answer againSources
- Public Employees’ Retirement System of Mississippi, Mississippi Highway Safety Patrol Retirement System Member Handbook: www.pers.ms.gov
- Mississippi Secretary of State Administrative Code / PERS Board, Title 27 Part 210 PERS Board Regulations (Chapter 58 Payment of Additional Benefit (COLA) to Retirees of MHSPRS): www.sos.ms.gov
- Public Employees’ Retirement System of Mississippi, Understanding your lump sum COLA Notice: www.pers.ms.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.