Stephen H. Cypen, Esq., Editor

FLORIDA PREMIUM TAX DISTRIBUTION AMOUNTS RELEASED: 

Here is the information Florida municipal firefighters and police officers have been anxiously awaiting.  The Municipal Police Officers’ and Firefighters’ Retirement Trust Funds Office has released the amounts available to be distributed to firefighter and police officer pension plans.  The total distribution for firefighters is $67,151,812.07 (down from $69,982,171.48) and for police officers, $63,960,602.94 (down from $65,308,169.04).  Once again, our client City of Miami leads both packs:  $4,704,532.88 (fire) and $5,135,967.57 (police).  Readers will be able to view the entire list at http://www.myflorida.com/frs/mpf  Initial distribution will be mailed on August 10, 2009, with follow-up distributions as plans are approved.  If your plan is not on the list, please contact the Municipal Police Officers’ and Firefighters’ Retirement Trust Funds Office and provide whatever information is needed for approval of your annual report.  There was an overall decrease in gross revenues from property and casualty insurance companies this year.  Fire was down 16.65% and police was down 1.99%.  Also, for the first time, this year, Department of Revenue charged an administrative fee for maintenance of the IPT database.  Note that the above figures do not include supplemental fire distributions.  However, because monies transferred to the supplemental trust fund were down significantly from last year, it is likely that the supplemental distribution allocation will be much smaller than in previous years.  As a general proposition, significant variations in premium tax distribution sometimes occur when insurance companies file amended or late returns for prior years.  Such filings may have the effect of inflating amounts received in one year and diminishing amounts received in a later year as the “correction” is made in a subsequent distribution.  If you wish to receive a detailed listing showing each insurance  company reporting premiums within your corporate or fire district limits to compare to last year, please contact the retirement office.  As always, thanks to Keith, Trish, Melody, Martha and Julie.