DEAR SUN SPOTS: We are looking for people (preferably male) in recovery from substance use disorder who are willing to share their experience and have a desire to help others.

CommUNITY Recovery of Androscoggin County invites all those in recovery to join us for a monthly meeting to develop action steps to address the opiate crisis in our community. Our focus is: “Persons in recovery will be active participants in supporting a community that recognizes the full continuum of care and all pathways of recovery.”

Please contact Nicole Garant at 783-9141 or ngarant@tcmhs.org to learn more about this initiative. We are eager to hear from those with personal experience and will be offering stipends to individuals who agree to participate in helping us build our community response.

— Corrie, no town

DEAR SUN SPOTS: Thanks for your column. Great information every day. We Social Security recipients receive a 2 percent COLA for 2018. What are members of Congress receiving as a COLA for 2018 and how is it determined?

— Dave, no town

ANSWER: I’m assuming you mean retired members of Congress because current federal employees get a pay raise, not a cost of living adjustment, commonly referred to as a COLA.

Current members of Congress get a 2 percent pay raise for 2018, but not a COLA, according to www.senate.gov.

COLA for the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) and the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) are based on the rate of inflation as measured by the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W). COLAs for both CSRS and FERS are determined by the average monthly CPI-W during the third quarter (July to September) of the current calendar year and the third quarter of the base year, which is the last previous year in which a COLA was applied. The “effective date” for COLAs is December, but they first appear in the benefits issued during the following January.

All CSRS retirees and survivors receive COLAs. Under FERS, however, non-disabled retirees under the age of 62 do not receive COLAs. CSRS pays a COLA that is equal to the percentage change in the CPI-W during the measurement period, but COLAs under FERS are limited if the rate of inflation is greater than 2.0 percent. If the rate of inflation during the measurement period is between 2.0 and 3.0 percent, the COLA under FERS is 2.0 percent. If inflation is greater than 3.0 percent, then the COLA for FERS benefits is equal to the CPI-W minus one percentage point.

Congress passed the first law requiring automatic COLAs for federal civil service retirement benefits in 1962, and it has adjusted either the formula by which they are calculated or the date on which they take effect more than a dozen times since then.

This information was found in extremely detailed reports put out by the Congressional Research Service titled “Cost of Living Adjustments for Federal Civil Service Annuities” and “Retirement Benefits for Members of Congress” by Katelin P. Isaacs that you can access online at www.senate.gov. Your question can be answered further on page 12 of that document. If you can understand it all, you’re a better person than I.

Now excuse me while I take a couple aspirin and go lay down . . . 

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