Cost of Living Adjustment.

Los Angeles Administrative Code § 4.1022

in effect

Sec. 4.1022. Cost of Living Adjustment. (a) The provisions of this section shall not be applicable to any benefit payable pursuant to the provisions of Section 4.1010(a)(2). The provisions of this section, however, shall be applicable to each other benefit payable in monthly installments pursuant to any other provisions of this Article, but the application thereof to any such benefit shall not reduce the amount to be paid on or subsequent to July 1st of any year to an amount less than that payable immediately prior to July 1st of said year. (b) The Board of Administration, not later than the 1st day of May of each year, shall determine with respect to the Federal Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Price Index for the Los Angeles area (“the C.P.I.”) the percentage of increase or decrease, if any, in the C.P.I. for the whole of the first next preceding calendar year from the C.P.I. for the whole of the second next preceding calendar year, and shall round any such percentage increase or decrease to the nearest one-tenth of one percent. This percentage increase or decrease in the C.P.I. that can be applied to a member’s or beneficiary’s benefit as provided in Subsection (a) is the Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA), and the accumulated balance of the COLA that is carried over each year as a result of following the process described in Subdivision (c)(2) is the “COLA Bank”. (c) The Board, whenever it shall have determined that there had been an increase or decrease in the C.P.I., shall increase or decrease the amount of each such benefit as hereunder provided, subject, however, to the limitations contained in Subsection (a) of this section: (1) Effective the 1st day of July of each year, beginning with the year 1974, the Board of Administration, with respect to each eligible benefit which became payable prior to the applicable 1st day of July, shall increase or decrease the amount thereof payable immediately prior to the applicable 1st day of July by one-twelfth (1/12) of the percentage of increase or decrease in the C.P.I. as determined by it pursuant to Subsection (b) of this section, for each whole month that such benefit was payable during the year commencing the 1st day of July next preceding the applicable 1st day of July and ending the 30th day of June next preceding the applicable 1st day of July, providing that any increase or decrease in the amount of any such benefit shall not exceed one-twelfth (1/12) of three percent (3%) thereof for each whole month that it was payable during the year. (2) If the percentage of increase or decrease in the C.P.I. in any calendar year, as determined by the Board of Administration, were to exceed three percent, as compared with the C.P.I. in the preceding year, the percentage of increase or decrease in the C.P.I. in excess of three percent shall be accumulated and carried over and added to or subtracted from the percentage of increase or decrease in the C.P.I. in the next succeeding calendar year, and such procedure shall be complied with from year to year. For those years prior to 1974, in which the COLA was capped at two percent, the percentage of increase or decrease of the C.P.I. which was in excess of two percent, rather than three percent, shall be accumulated and carried over as provided herein. The foregoing provisions of this subdivision shall not apply to any recipient whose benefits were not paid for the entire fiscal year (July 1 to June 30) immediately preceding the fiscal year to which the COLA was first applied, unless the recipient is receiving a continuance benefit following the death of a retired member and the combined benefits paid to the continuance beneficiary and previously paid to the deceased member cover the entire fiscal year immediately preceding the fiscal year when the COLA was first applied. (3) In no event shall any COLA Bank contain a balance that is less than zero percent. (d) The amount of any benefit which shall be continued to any survivor upon the death of a retired member subsequent to July 1, 1967, shall be in the same ratio to the amount of the benefit which such member shall have been receiving as of the date of the member’s death as the amount of the benefit which originally would have been continued to such survivor shall bear to the amount of the benefit which originally was payable to such member. (e) If it were to be impossible or impracticable for the Board to cause all necessary calculations to be made in time for it to include any increases or decreases in the amounts of benefits, as hereinabove provided, in the demands drawn in payment of such benefits for the month of July in any year, then the Board shall have the power and authority, when such calculations shall have been made, to increase or decrease the amounts of the demands drawn in payment of such benefits for any month subsequent to the month of July so as to include any increases or decreases in such benefits which shall have accumulated from and after the 1st day of July. SECTION HISTORY Added by Ord. No. 182,629, Eff. 7-25-13. Amended by: Subsecs. (b) and (c)(2) amended and Subsec. (c)(3) added, Ord. No. 188,756, Eff. 11-16-25.

Source: City of Los Angeles, Charter and Codes (American Legal Publishing, codelibrary.amlegal.com)URL: https://codelibrary.amlegal.com/codes/los_angeles/latest/laac/0-0-0-78104Fetched: 10/24/2026