Benefits at a Glance

October 31, 2024

The SFPP (Special Forces Pension Plan) Sponsor Board has decided to decrease member and employer contribution rates effective January 1, 2025.

Contribution rates will decrease slightly, effective January 1, 2025, following a positive actuarial valuation of the Plan as at December 31, 2023. 

The Plan member contribution rate will drop to 13.20% from 13.45%, and the employer contribution rate will drop to 14.30% from 14.55%.

As a result of the actuarial valuations that were filed for the year ending December 31, 2023:

• Fire Fighters Supplementary Pension Plan (FFSPP) members will see a decrease in their contribution rates
  Effective January 1, 2025, the City’s contribution rate for FFSPP members will change to reflect the new contribution rate of 2.2% (reduced from 2.7%) of pensionable salary and employer contribution will be 2.8% (reduced from 3.3%).
  
  For more see FFSPP Change to Contribution Rates
   
• Fire Chief, Deputy Chiefs and Assistant Deputy Chiefs' Supplementary Pension Plan (FCSPP) members will see an increase in contribution rates.
  Effective January 1, 2025, the City's contribution rate for FCSPP members will change to reflect the new contribution rate of 4.38% (increased from 3.22%) of pensionable salary and employer current service contributions will be 4.38% (increased from 3.22%).
  
  For more see FCSPP Change to Contribution Rates

October 31, 2024

LAPP is pleased to announce that contribution rates for 2025 will remain unchanged.

The contribution rates effective January 1, 2024, are as follows:

*The YMPE is set at $71,300 for 2025. 

YMPE is a figure set each year by the Canadian government that specifies the earnings amount that can be used in calculating contributions to the Canada Pension Plan (CPP) and can be used in calculating contributions to registered pension plans, such as LAPP, for each year.

June 17, 2024

Some employees will see changes to the premiums deducted from their July 9, 2024 pay advice for some of the employee benefit plans. These changes come from the 2023 financial review of the plans.

Employee Benefit Plans - Premium Rates 2024

May 14, 2024 

Some employees will see a change to their LTD premium rate effective June 2024.

ATU 569 | CUPE 30  | CSU 52  | CEMA  | EFFU

Employees will see changes to the premiums deducted from their July 9, 2024 pay advice. These changes come from the 2023 financial review of the plans.

April 3, 2024

City Council fully ratified the new Civic Service Union (CSU) 52 Collective Agreement on April 3, 2024. The agreement is being edited by the parties and is not yet available for viewing. You can find additional information here .

Current employees can find information about the lump sum payment and retroactive pay on OneCity.

Past employees who were in the service between the expiration date of the previous agreement and the date of ratification of this agreement by both parties are entitled to retroactive pay. Visit this CSU 52 web page for instructions on how to apply.

January 18, 2024

The Fire Fighters’ Supplementary Pension Plan (FFSPP) and Fire Chiefs and Assistant Deputy Chiefs' Supplementary Pension Plan (FCSPP) supplements the benefits you have earned as a member of the Local Authorities Pension Plan (LAPP). LAPP announced it is introducing a new pension option for members retiring on or after January 1, 2024, and a related change is required to the FFSPP and FCSPP to be compliant with the Income Tax Act.

The changes only impact you if you have a pension partner when you retire and you retire on or after January 1, 2024.  Members will receive a communication outlining the ‘Change to Pension Options at Retirement.’

January 4, 2024

Blue Cross has released their updated guide to  dental fee coverage maximums for 2024 .
Please refer to your plan documents and talk to your dentist to determine what your out-of-pocket expenses may be for dental services.

The LAPP Sponsor Board announced that a one-time enhancement will be applied to LAPP’s January 1, 2024 Cost-Of-Living Adjustment (COLA). The enhancement will increase LAPP’s COLA from 60 to 100 per cent of the increase in the Alberta Consumer Price Index (CPI). You can read more about the one-time 100 per cent cost-of-living enhancement in LAPP’s newsroom.
 

October 12, 2023

To support the Canadian Dental Care Plan (CDCP), the 2023 Budget Implementation Act includes legislative updates to permit its effective administration of the Dental Care Measures Act.

The Dental Care Measures Act will permit the collection of Social Insurance Numbers from applicants and require the reporting of employer-provided dental coverage via T4 and T4A tax slips.

Starting from the 2023 tax year, employers are required to report annually on T4 or T4A whether an employee, former employee, or a deceased employee's spouse was eligible on December 31 of the reporting tax year for dental insurance or coverage, related to current or past employment.

As a result, the following new boxes will be added to the T4 and T4A slips for the 2023 tax year along with specific codes:

• T4 - Box 45: Employer-Offered Dental Benefits
• T4A - Box 015: Payer-Offered Dental Benefits
• Code 1: No access to any dental care insurance or coverage of dental services
• Code 2: Access to dental care insurance or coverage for the payee only
• Code 3: Access to dental care insurance or coverage for the payee, spouse, and dependents
• Code 4: Access to dental care insurance or coverage for the payee and their spouse
• Code 5: Access to dental care insurance or coverage for the payee and dependents

2023 T4/RL-1 Slip Reporting Requirements – Employment Income

Starting January 1, 2023, Canada required that certain credits be subtracted from Federal and Provincial taxable wages to align with the Enhanced Canada Pension Plan (CPP) program. However, for the 2023 tax year, these credits will need to be reinserted into the Employment Income boxes when reporting to the government on the T4 and RL-1 slips:

• T4 - Box 14: Employment Income
  • The credit, initially taken out from taxable wages for Federal and Provincial Withholding, will now be put back into Box 14 (Employment Income).

Effective January 9, 2024

The Year's Maximum Pensionable Earnings (YMPE) determine the maximum amount on which Canada Pension Plan (CPP) contributions are calculated. On November 1, 2023, the CRA announced the maximum pensionable earnings and contributions for 2024. Starting in 2024:

• YMPE will be referred to as the first earning ceiling.
• The maximum pensionable earnings under CPP will be $68,500, up from $66,600 in 2023.
• The basic exemption amount for 2024 remains at $3,500.
• Year’s Additional Maximum Pensionable Earnings (YAMPE) will be referred to as the second earning ceiling.
• YAMPE will be the new limit up to which earnings are considered pensionable.
• A higher, second earnings ceiling of $73,200 will be implemented and used to determine second additional CPP contributions (CPP2). As a result, pensionable earnings between $68,500 and $73,200 are subject to CPP2 contributions.
• The second earning ceiling will be 7% higher than the first earning ceiling in 2024; then 14% higher in 2025, where it will remain at this level for the foreseeable future.

Second CPP Contributions

Second CPP contributions will have a different contribution rate. This new rate will be 4% for employees and employers. Starting in 2024:

• Base CPP Contributions (also known as the original CPP) have a rate of 4.95%.
• First CPP Contributions (contributions above the 4.95%) were phased in between 2019 and 2023.
• The combined Base and First Contributions equal 5.95%.
• Second CPP Contributions (contributions above the YMPE) have a rate of 4%.

Please note: In 2024 there will be an additional T4 box for all Second CPP Contributions. This box will be 16A.

Questions:

How will the enhanced CPP deduction be handled on a biweekly payroll?

• The second CPP will calculate based on YTD amounts using the YMPE and YAMPE. It won’t begin calculating the second CPP until the first YMPE ceiling is met.

Does the CPP deduction start from pay period 1 based on annual salary?

• CPP and enhanced CPP do not calculate based on annual salary. They calculate based on the amount in the current pay run processing using YTD totals. Since enhanced CPP deductions don’t start until the first YMPE ceiling is reached, it won’t impact employees’ first pay of 2024.

If you have further questions, please refer to the resources provided by the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA).