The Fire Relief Association Working Group met on August 20 and reviewed potential topics for consideration this year. Working Group members discussed whether to remove the requirement that benefits for members of relief associations that convert from a defined benefit to a defined contribution plan be determined using a "present value" formula. 

Topics held over for consideration at the next meeting are potential changes to the fire state aid program that would allow any reductions to aid due to late reporting to remain in the program, and a clarification of when municipal contributions are levied by the county. The group will also hear from VIA Actuarial Solutions about assumptions used to calculate relief association liabilities and receive an updated analysis of whether the assumptions are still reasonable.

The next Fire Relief Association Working Group meeting will be on Thursday, September 17, from 1:00 pm to 2:30 pm. Meeting materials and a link to watch the live stream will be posted on our Working Group webpage.

The first deadline for fire relief associations to be eligible to receive 2026 fire state aid is approaching on September 15. Check out our reporting compliance dashboard to see a relief association’s status in submitting required reports to the OSA and if the relief association has met its requirements with the OSA to be qualified for its fire state aid distribution.

Contact the Pension Team for help with questions about reporting requirements or completing reporting forms.

Relief associations ineligible to receive 2026 state aid in the first round of state aid payments may be eligible to receive their state aid in the second round of payments if all required reports have been submitted, the OSA review has been completed, and any identified issues are resolved by November 1.

The 2026 fire state aid amounts will be available in mid-September. Lists of the state aid amounts will be posted on the OSA and Department of Revenue websites when they are
available.

A new training video is available that walks through the Benefit Level Projections Tool tab included in the redesigned Excel version of the Schedule (SC) Form for relief associations with a defined benefit lump-sum plan. This tool may be used as a resource to estimate the impact that benefit level changes or investment rate of return changes could have on the relief association's funded status and financial requirements. The tab is optional and is provided solely as a resource.

Additional instructional videos showing how to complete relief association reporting forms can be found on the Training Opportunities page of our website. 

We're conducting a survey to get feedback on the redesigned Schedule Form and FIRE Form that were released earlier this year, and would love to hear your thoughts! The survey should only take a few minutes and asks questions about the ease of completing the forms and helpfulness of the form instructions and training videos.

Forms submitted through the State Auditor’s Form Entry System (SAFES) are usually available for viewing and signing immediately after they have been successfully uploaded.

To sign forms electronically, begin by logging into SAFES. Select the “Forms” tab and choose the appropriate reporting year. Forms that are available for signing electronically will have a blue “View Form” link next to the form name.

Click on the blue link to view the form. If the information in the form is accurate, sign the form by clicking the “Sign” button. After you click the button, a 32-character unique identifier is displayed on the form, which represents your electronic signature.

The OSA occasionally finds that a fire relief association has commingled special and general funds into one bank account, rather than keep them in separate accounts. Fire state aid and municipal contributions must be deposited into the special fund of a relief association. Because the special fund consists of public funds and is a restricted pension fund, Minnesota law strictly limits how the funds may be invested and disbursed. Having a commingled bank account makes it difficult for a relief association to properly track its special fund assets and to ensure compliance with statutory requirements.

Each relief association should deposit fire state aid and municipal contributions into a special fund bank account that is separate from the association’s general fund bank account. Establishing separate accounts also facilitates tracking special fund assets and market values that must be reported to the OSA on annual relief association reporting forms.

In addition, if a relief association has a charitable gambling fund, the charitable gambling fund should have its own bank account that is separate from the relief association’s special fund and general fund accounts. Donations from lawful gambling cannot be used for the benefit of a pension or retirement fund.

Information about special and general funds, and charitable gambling funds, can be found in the OSA’s Statement of Position on this topic.