Our Kitsap Fire Fighters Benevolent Fund will be holding its annual meeting on March 26th, 7pm at the Clover Leaf Bar & Grill.

During this meeting, elections for President, Treasurer, and the Board's Directors (up to 21 positions) will be held. 

A year-in-review will be presented as will a financial report and a glimpse on future projects/events.

Hope to see you there!

Local 2819 represented our members in Olympia this week during the WSCFF Legislative Convention. We met Senators Rolfes, Sheldon, and Angel as well as State Representatives Appleton, Hansen, Griffey, and Young.

Members are encouraged to subscribe to the WSCFF Legislative Updates to learn the progress of VERY relevant bills.

To do this: Login to www.WSCFF.org. Click Member Home on the right. Click Account Settings. Select Legislative Updates check box.

The 2015 Young Fire Fighter Conference has been scheduled for May 12-14, in Kennewick, Washington.  This conference is for the "possible" aspiring young Union leader in our Local. 

The conference is part of 7th District VP Ricky Walsh's succession planning for our's and other IAFF Locals' leadership. The agenda is geared towards educating young members about their IAFF, the labor movement and what their role might be, and to give them options on how to serve this great Union.

Please see the attached agenda and registration form.  For more information contact your BU Vice President. The conference is for fire fighters born 1980 and after.  We look forward to seeing your interest.

Download:
 2015 YFF Final Agenda.pdf 

For a mere ten dollars, you can get one of these tickets for this year's hockey game that benefits our benevolent fund.

Fire & Ice has the Westsound Warriors facing off against the Eugene Generals.

Silver City Saint Florian IPA will be on tap and the Local 2819 Honor Guard will present colors.

Contact Brothers Bigelow, Wildes, and Musselman for tickets.

This month’s Dual Response – the LEOFF II Board’s publication – highlights two issues that affect a portion of our membership.  Both of the issues are related to Social Security benefits.  Below is a synopsis of what is better explained in the newsletter.

The Windfall Elimination Provision stems from federal law and drastically reduces Social Security retirement benefits for retired LEOFF members who have accrued their 40 quarters in SS.

The Social Security Spousal Survivor Benefit is reduced for LEOFF members who normally would be entitled to them otherwise.

This is not something that targets LEOFF members exclusively but those public workers who belong to a pension system.

Basically, that annual letter we receive from the government may be providing a false positive figure in what you’re due from Social Security.

So what do we do now? Basically, we should plan our retirement at least five years prior to when we think we’re even eligible. If you’re 48 years old, you should do the following:

1. Attend a DRS workshop – they are held frequently
2. Create a profile in the DRS website and begin researching your options
3. Read the LEOFF II handbook
4. Visit our website’s Downloads page and use the Excel based retirement calculator created by WSCFF SecTreas Greg Markley that compares retirement payout options against life insurance
5. Read the attached Dual Response article
6. Visit this website and read about the Windfall Elimination Provision.

Don't wait until you're eligible to begin your planning. Your LEOFF II board has been busy and, working with DRS,  has made tremendous progress to protect your future. We have the option of purchasing five years of service credits and now have the option of purchasing an Annuity plan. 

To read the specifics, members need to login to the website.

Applications are due February 28th.