Updated October 30, 2026. Quick answer: Rhode Island ERSRI sets its annual benefit adjustment by formula under RIGL 36-10-35(h). The 2026 Post Retirement Increase is 3.34%, reported to the Employees’ Retirement Board in the draft minutes of December 17, 2025 printed in the Board’s meeting book. The 2027 figure is not set yet. The ERSRI web pages could not be read for this page, so the 2026 payment month is not stated here.
The statutory formula
RIGL 36-10-35(h) builds the adjustment from two halves: an investment half and an inflation half. On the investment half, the statute subtracts 5.5% from the five year average investment return, “said percentage not to exceed four percent (4%) and not to be less than zero percent (0%).” “In the event the retirement board adjusts the actuarially assumed rate of return for the system, either upward or downward, the subtrahend shall be adjusted either upward or downward in the same amount.” On the inflation half, it says the figure “is equal to the lesser of three percent (3%) or the percentage increase in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) as published by the U.S. Department of Labor Statistics determined as of September 30 of the prior calendar year. In no event shall the sum of (i) plus (ii) exceed three and one-half percent (3.5%) or be less than zero percent (0%).”
Who gets the full adjustment
The statute says: “The benefit adjustments provided by this subsection (h)(1)(B) shall be provided to all retirees entitled to receive a benefit adjustment as of June 30, 2012, under the law then in effect”. For everyone else: “the benefit adjustments shall commence upon the third anniversary of the date of retirement or the date on which the retiree reaches their Social Security retirement age, whichever is later.”
Later retirees receive less while the plans are underfunded. The Board minutes say: “for those retiring after June 30, 2012, the benefit adjustments are reduced to 25% of the Post Retirement Increase payable each year while the plans remain less than 75% funded.” The statute says the adjustment “shall be reduced to twenty-five percent (25%) of the benefit adjustment unless the funded ratio of the employees’ retirement system of Rhode Island, the judicial retirement benefits trust, and the state police retirement benefits trust, calculated by the system’s actuary on an aggregate basis, exceeds eighty percent (80%) in which event the benefit adjustment will be reinstated for all members for such plan year.” The statute applies the adjustment only to the first slice of the allowance, set at $25,855 and indexed annually; for members who retired after June 30, 2012 and on or before June 30, 2015 it replaces $25,855 with $31,026 until the plans’ aggregate funded ratio passes its threshold.
The 2026 increase
The Board meeting book records the actuary’s report: “Mr. Paul Wood of GRS then discussed the Post-Retirement increase calculation, which occurs annually. Mr. Wood said this number is calculated by using investment return and change in CPI. The 2026 Post Retirement Increase is 3.34%.” An earlier valuation gives older years: “This calculation produces a 3.11% COLA for Calendar Year 2023 and 2.84% for Calendar Year 2024.”
Where 2027 stands
The 2027 ERSRI increase is not set yet: the formula needs the five year average investment return and the September 30 CPI-U, and the 2026 figure was reported to the Retirement Board on December 17, 2025, so this page updates when the Board is told the 2027 figure. The ERSRI pages that would show the 2026 payment month could not be read, so this page does not state it.
Common mistakes
- Treating 3.34% as the 2027 figure. It is the 2026 Post Retirement Increase, and 2027 is not set yet.
- Applying the full adjustment to a retiree who retired after June 30, 2012. The statute and the Board minutes reduce it to 25% while the plans are below the funded threshold.
- Expecting the adjustment to apply to the whole pension. The statute applies it to the first slice of the allowance.
Related: ERSRI retirement decisions, how public pension decisions work, and whether Rhode Island taxes pensions.
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Answer againSources
- Rhode Island General Assembly, R.I. Gen. Laws 36-10-35 Additional benefits payable to retired employees: webserver.rilegislature.gov
- Employees’ Retirement System of Rhode Island / Office of the General Treasurer, Employees’ Retirement Board meeting book, January 14, 2026 (includes minutes of December 17, 2025): data.treasury.ri.gov
- GRS for ERSRI, Employees’ Retirement System of Rhode Island Actuarial Valuation Report as of June 30, 2023: treasury.ri.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.