The Fire Relief Association Working Group met on September 17 and October 6. Working Group members agreed to pursue legislative changes that would:

• Remove the requirement that benefits be calculated using the "present value" of each participant's accrued benefit when a relief association converts from a defined benefit to a defined contribution plan.
• Allow fire state aid forfeiture and penalty amounts to remain in the fire state aid pool and carry over to the next fiscal year, instead of reverting to the State's general fund.
• Clarify when a relief association must certify unpaid required municipal contribution amounts to the county auditor.

Working Group members also discussed whether the current liability discount rate assumption used to estimate pension liabilities is still reasonable considering updated capital market information the group received. The group will decide at its next meeting whether to recommend an increase to the current 3% discount rate used for fire relief associations paying lump-sum benefits. Working Group members also reviewed guidance regarding qualified plan requirements, specifically around plan assets being held in a trust.

The final Fire Relief Association Working Group meeting of the year will be on Tuesday, October 27, 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.

Fire and supplemental state aid distributions have been made to many cities and towns. We want to remind you that the municipal treasurer is required to transfer fire state aid and supplemental state aid to the treasurer of the affiliated relief association within 30 days after receipt, for deposit into the relief association's special fund.

A listing from the Department of Revenue of the 2026 fire state aid and supplemental state aid amounts can be found on the Office of the State Auditor (OSA)'s State Payments webpage.

The second deadline for relief associations to be eligible to receive 2026 fire state aid is on November 2, about a month away. 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.

Minnesota law requires forfeiture of fire state aid for relief associations that do not submit all required reporting information to the OSA on or before November 30. A relief association that does not submit the reports by this statutory deadline automatically forfeits its 2026 fire state aid and does not qualify for future aid distributions until the missing forms are submitted. The OSA does not have authority to grant filing extensions beyond this statutory deadline.

A firefighter's membership in a relief association begins on the date of hire by the municipality, joint powers board, or independent nonprofit firefighting corporation, unless otherwise specified in the relief association bylaws. Relief associations may define a different membership start date in their bylaws if they prefer something other than the statutory default.

The OSA’s sample Bylaw Guides provide several options that can be used as a reference by relief associations when defining the membership start date in their bylaws. The options are identified in Article II of the sample Bylaw Guides, which can be accessed in both PDF and Word versions.

October is Cybersecurity Awareness Month, and we want to take this opportunity to share a reminder about the importance of keeping your SAFES login information secure.

SAFES is the State Auditor's Form Entry System, which is the secure web application used to access, submit, and electronically sign reporting forms. Because relief association reporting forms posted in SAFES contain nonpublic member information, relief associations must take steps to protect this data. Click the button below to find steps relief association trustees should take to keep their login information secure.

Minnesota law requires the treasurer of each fire relief association to be bonded for at least ten percent of the relief association’s special fund assets. However, the amount of the bond need not exceed $500,000.

Officers of relief associations affiliated with a city fire department where the city is bonded through the League of Minnesota Cities Insurance Trust (LMCIT) are automatically defined as covered employees on the city’s bond. These relief associations should obtain a copy of the city’s LMCIT bond to determine whether the amount of the bond is at least ten percent of the relief association’s special fund assets (with the required amount capped at $500,000).

If the city’s LMCIT bond meets the coverage requirement for the relief association’s officers, the relief association does not need to purchase a separate bond. If the city’s LMCIT bond amount is less than what’s required for the relief association, the relief association should either purchase a separate bond to bring coverage to the required amount, or work with the city to increase the amount of the LMCIT bond.

Because the statutory requirement specifies that the bond must be in an amount equal to at least ten percent of the assets of the relief association, the bond should not be subject to a deductible. For relief associations covered by a LMCIT bond, the LMCIT will reimburse the relief association in full in the event of a covered loss, subject to the bond coverage limit. The city will reimburse the LMCIT for any deductible that applies to the loss. This arrangement is specified in the LMCIT bond coverage.

Relief association treasurers who are bonded through an entity other than the LMCIT should review their fidelity bond and make changes as necessary to ensure that it is not subject to a deductible.