2020 Arizona Revised Statutes
Title 38 - Public Officers and Employees
§ 38-843.04 Compensation limitation; adjustments; definition

38-843.04. Compensation limitation; adjustments; definition

A. The annual compensation of each member taken into account for purposes of the system shall not exceed the following:

1. Beginning January 1, 1996 through December 31, 2001, $150, 000.

2. Except for members who are hired on or after July 1, 2017, beginning January 1, 2002, $200, 000. The board shall adjust the $200, 000 annual compensation limit under this paragraph at the same time and in the same manner as adjusted by the United States secretary of the treasury under section 401(a)(17)(B) of the internal revenue code. The adjustment under this paragraph for a calendar year applies to annual compensation for that calendar year.

3. For members who are hired on or after July 1, 2017, $110, 000. The board shall adjust the $110, 000 annual compensation limit under this paragraph as prescribed in subsection C of this section. Notwithstanding the adjustments made under subsection C of this section, the limit under this paragraph, as adjusted by the board, may not exceed the maximum compensation limit of section 401(a)(17) of the internal revenue code, as adjusted by the United States secretary of the treasury.

B. If compensation under the system is determined on a period of time that contains fewer than twelve calendar months, the compensation limit for that period of time is equal to the dollar limit for the calendar year during which the period of time begins, multiplied by the fraction in which the numerator is the number of full months in that period of time and the denominator is twelve.

C. Beginning in fiscal year 2020-2021, and every third fiscal year thereafter, the board shall adjust the annual compensation limit specified in subsection A, paragraph 3 of this section by the average change in the public safety wage index as determined in this subsection. The board shall annually publish the public safety wage index in January. The annual compensation limit adjustment under this subsection for a calendar year applies to the annual compensation for that calendar year. To determine the public safety wage index:

1. Employers represented in the public safety wage index shall provide the board pay scales for the month of July for the enforcement classifications of public safety officers annually in July.

2. The board shall determine the weighted average of the change in the top of the pay scale for public safety officers of the employers represented in the public safety wage index. The average change shall be weighted by measuring each employer's total number of members divided by the total number of members of all employers represented in the public safety wage index.

D. The board shall establish a public safety wage index that is composed of a group of employers that represents geographic diversity across this state and that represents:

1. Seven large employers, each of which has one thousand or more total system members, composed of one state law enforcement agency, one county law enforcement agency, three municipal law enforcement agencies and two municipal fire agencies.

2. Nine midsized employers, each of which has more than two hundred but fewer than one thousand total system members, composed of one state law enforcement agency, two county law enforcement agencies, four municipal law enforcement agencies, one municipal fire agency and one fire district.

3. Ten small employers, each of which has two hundred or fewer total system members, composed of three municipal law enforcement agencies, four municipal fire agencies and three fire districts.

E. The board may not change the employers represented in the public safety wage index more frequently than every ten years, unless required to maintain the composition of employers as prescribed in subsection D of this section.

F. For the purposes of this section, " public safety officers" means the classification of police officers, sheriff's deputies, firefighters or wildlife managers or their equivalent enforcement classifications.