 |
2011
Member Statement Details
This
web page describes in more detail each
section of the Active/Deferred Member Statement (ADMS) you received in
the mail,
including the potential estimated allowance for
a retirement pension from your continued
membership in the Alameda County Employees’ Retirement Association
(ACERA).
Official
plan documents govern your plan
eligibility and benefits. Refer to your ACERA Member
Handbook [1MB
PDF] for a
more detailed description of your benefits.
Benefits may be subject to change.
Statement Sections
Your Personal Information
Your Beneficiary
Information
Your
Service Totals
Your
Contribution Totals
Your
Allowance Estimate
Estimated
Allowance Increase
How Your
Allowance is Calculated
Forms
2011 ADMS Data Correction Form
Active/Deferred
Member Beneficiary Designation Form
Deferred
Member Address/Name Change Form
Survey
ADMS
Feedback Survey
Your Personal
Information
This
statement section includes your name and important ACERA demographic
information, including your current retirement membership status, plan
identification,
retirement membership entry and re-entry dates, your employer, salary
information, and whether you have established reciprocity.
Review this section carefully. If
you
notice any errors, complete and return the 2011
ADMS Data
Correction Form by
September 1, 2012. If you are an active member, notify your employer if
any
changes are necessary to your date of birth as this information is
provided directly
by your employer.
Here
are brief descriptions of key data highlighted in your statement:
|
Membership Status
·
Active
·
Deferred
|
Active means you are
currently employed by an ACERA Participating Employer in a
retirement-eligible job classification.
Deferred means that you 1) no
longer work in a retirement-eligible ACERA job classification, 2) are
not actively making retirement contributions, and 3) have
left your retirement contributions on account with ACERA. Your contributions
will continue to earn interest as it is posted and you may be eligible to receive a
retirement allowance upon reaching retirement eligibility.
|
|
Reciprocity
|
Reciprocity is the
joining or linking of similarly administered retirement systems. If “yes” is indicated on page
1 of your statement, your retirement allowance is linked with another
public agency, whose name appears on your statement. Your highest
earnings under any of these systems will be used to determine the
benefits payable to you by ACERA.
Refer
to ACERA’s reciprocity
webpage or page 10 of your Member Handbook [1MB PDF]
for more information
on reciprocity.
|
|
Retirement
System Entry
Date/Re-Entry
Date
|
This is your most
recent date of entry into the retirement system. For most people, the
entry date and re-entry date are the same. However, if you terminated
employment, withdrew contributions, and then subsequently re-entered
membership, your adjusted entry date will be the most recent date you
entered the retirement system.
Your
age at your date of entry into the retirement system determines your
employee contribution rate; the younger you are when you entered into
the system, the lower your rate.
Although
you may purchase days worked prior to your entry date, service
purchases or redeposits of prior service do not change your
entry/re-entry date into retirement membership. On the other hand, all
service credit (whether earned during membership or outside of
membership and later purchased) is considered when determining your
retirement allowance.
|
|
Current Plan
·
General
·
Safety
·
Tier I
·
Tier II
·
Tier III
·
Int
·
Non
|
There are two types
of ACERA members: General and Safety. Safety Members are
employees working in active law enforcement, deferred firefighters, or
positions that have been designated Safety positions by the Board of
Retirement (e.g., Probation Officers or Group Counselors). All other
job classifications fall under General membership.
There
are three tiers of ACERA members: Tier I, Tier
II, and Tier III.
|
Tier I
|
- Employees of Alameda County, the Superior Court,
the 1st Five, or the Alameda County Medical Center
with a retirement system entry/re-entry date prior to July 1, 1983
- Livermore Area
Recreation Park District with an entry date prior to 10/1/08
- All
Alameda
County
Office of Education (any entry date)
- All Housing
Authority (any entry date)
|
|
Tier II
|
- Employees of Alameda County, the Superior Court,
the 1st Five, or the Alameda County Medical Center
with a retirement system entry/re-entry date on or after July 1, 1983
|
|
Tier III
|
- New employees of
Livermore Area Recreation & Park District (LARPD) with entry
date on or after 10/1/08
- LARPD members who
elected to change from Tier I to Tier III
|
Integrated
(Int) vs. Non-Integrated (N/I)
Your statement will
indicate whether you are an integrated member or a non-integrated
member by printing either Int or N/I.
Most
integrated members contribute to Social
Security each pay-period and have a reduced rate on their retirement
contribution and, upon retirement, their retirement allowance is
slightly reduced.
Safety
members and some long-time general members do not pay into Social
Security and, therefore, make a full
retirement contribution as non-integrated members of ACERA. In addition, members who
work for employers that do not participate in Social Security are
non-integrated and, upon retirement, do
not receive the reduced benefit.
|
|
Average
Monthly
Salary
|
The listed salary is
an un-audited monthly average of salary as reported through your
employer’s
payroll
file and is one of the factors used to compute your retirement allowance at the time of
retirement. For Tier I and Tier
III members, this is
your monthly average for the last 12 months. For Tier
II members, this is
your monthly average for the last 36 months.
Projected salary is not computed.
If you have not been a member of ACERA for at least
36 months, an average salary of all your paychecks up to 1/21/12 is
used for your average monthly salary. See How Your Allowance is Calculated
for an explanation of how ACERA computes your final
average salary to calculate your monthly retirement allowance.
|
Your
Beneficiary Information
ACERA
asks you to designate your beneficiaries when you become an ACERA
member. Your
statement lists the primary and alternate beneficiaries you have
designated to
receive any payable death benefits in the event of your death. Review
your
beneficiary information carefully and, if you wish to make changes or
corrections, use ONLY the Active/Deferred
Member Beneficiary Designation Form which
must be completed, signed, and returned to us. To
request the required form call ACERA
on 1-800-838-1932
(press 1).
Your
ACERA
Member
Handbook
[1MB
PDF] and
www.acera.org
describe
the benefits payable to your beneficiary(ies) in more detail.
Your
Service Totals as of December 31, 2011
The
more service credit you have, the higher your retirement benefits.
ACERA also
uses service credit to determine when you may retire and receive
benefits. This
section of your statement provides the total service credit in your
retirement account
through the end of the last pay period in December 2011 (which ends
December 10,
2011) and any service purchases made (or contracts completed) by
December 31, 2011.
Current
Service Years
lists
your earned years of service. Retirement service credit is not granted
for
breaks in service or positions held in nonretirement-eligible job
classifications. Service
Purchased shows the time
purchased on completed (i.e.,
paid-off in 2011) service purchase contracts only;
service credit is granted only upon completion of the purchase contract.
Date of Entry
As
you review this information, you will likely find that your retirement
service
is different from your employment service.
This is to be expected because retirement service credit
is earned beginning
the first day of the second pay period of employment in an
ACERA-covered
position (your date of entry/re-entry into the retirement system). In
general,
you earn one year of service credit for each year of full-time
employment,
provided you are working in a retirement-eligible position and are
making
retirement contributions.
Sick Leave Credit
Upon Retirement
Your
unused sick leave will be converted into service credit, as allowed by
your
bargaining unit. For
most members, 50%
of any unused sick leave balance at the time of retirement may be converted to service
credit and added to
your total years of service ( up to a limit specified in your MOU).
Converted sick leave does not count toward retirement
eligibility
requirements.
For
your unused sick leave to be converted to service credit, your
retirement
effective date must be the day after you terminate employment. Retirement-eligible
members who terminate
employment and choose not to apply for and begin retirement will not
receive
credit for unused sick leave.
Monthly
Medical Allowance
Retirees
with 10 or more years of creditable ACERA service and those
service-connected
disability retirees who are enrolled in an ACERA-sponsored medical plan
may receive
a Monthly Medical Allowance (MMA) to offset the cost of retiree medical
premium
payments. The offset is based on ACERA years of service and a
contribution
amount determined annually by the Board of Retirement. Current policy
limits
the maximum amount to the “self-only”
premium
amount or highest allowable benefit under the MMA (whichever is lower).
Plan
premium costs exceeding the MMA contribution are deducted from your
monthly
retirement allowance.
A
non-vested benefit, the MMA is only available on ACERA-sponsored
medical plans
(private insurance is not covered) and is prorated by years of service.
Refer
to ACERA’s
MMA
webpage for current MMA amounts.
Service Audit
Your
statement lists your last service audit date (if any).
Your service credit is audited by an ACERA
Retirement Specialist when you request a benefit estimate, service
purchase/redeposit calculation, service audit, and at the time you
retire. This audit
is done to ensure that your
service credit total is accurately recorded in our system.
Your
Contribution Totals as of December 31, 2011
This
section breaks down your employee retirement contributions. The totals
reflect
the beginning balance from your last statement date (as of December 31,
2010),
contributions made during 2011, plus any contributions made due to
service purchase
contracts completed in 2011. This section also includes interest
credited to
your account in 2011, if applicable.
MTO and VTO
In
prior years, Alameda County
offered a
Voluntary Time Off Program and also implemented a Mandatory Time Off
Program
due to budget deficits. If you were absent from work due to MTO or VTO,
you earned
service credit during these periods. In addition, the County paid
retirement
contributions on your behalf so that you would not lose benefits.
However,
these benefits are not refundable should you terminate employment and
choose to
withdraw your balance of contributions and interest.
Employer
Offset/Pickup
For
certain management employees and employees with certain bargaining
units, your employer
may pay a portion of your retirement contribution ( stated as “Employer
Offset/Pickup”). This amount is not refundable should you terminate
employment
and choose to withdraw your balance of contributions and interest.
If
a negative adjustment shows on your account during 2011, you may
contact ACERA
for an explanation.
Deferred
non-vested members may withdraw their
contributions at any time after 30 days from termination of employment
by
contacting ACERA to withdraw account funds. If you have established
reciprocity
with another retirement system, you may not withdraw your funds unless
you
terminate employment and withdraw funds under that system.
Your
Retirement Allowance Estimates
This
section provides an estimate of the monthly allowance that may be
available to
you (when eligible for retirement) each
month for lifeafter retirement. If you are currently eligible to
retire, the
first estimate provided on your statement is for your birthday
following 1/1/12.
If you are a non-vested deferred member (with less than 5 years of
service
credit and not employed under a reciprocal retirement agency) you will
receive
only one estimate for age 70. By law, non-vested members are not
eligible to receive
a monthly allowance until they reach age 70.
Your
estimated monthly retirement allowance is calculated with the plan’s
three-component
formula: 1) your
retirement age factor, 2)
your total years of service credit at retirement, and 3) your final
average
salary. To estimate your allowance for purposes of this statement we use the range of assumptions
described on page
3 of your statement.
Here
are brief descriptions of the data included in this section:
|
Estimated
Retirement Age
|
This illustrates
your estimated allowance at various retirement ages. Generally, members
are eligible to retire at age 50 or older with 10 or more years of
service credit; at any age with 30 or more years of service credit; or
at age 70 or older with any amount of service credit. Safety Members
may retire with 20 years of service, regardless of age, or at age 70
with any amount of service credit.
|
|
Years of Service at
Retirement Age
|
This estimates the
years of service credit you may earn as you work to various retirement
ages. For purposes of calculating your estimated allowance, ACERA
assumes you will continue to work at your current employment and
membership type until reaching the stated retirement ages. Additional
service purchased and service purchase contracts completed by mid-March
(when data for this statement was produced) are included in the service
credit used to compute these estimates.
Part-time Employees: Your estimated allowance was projected using
full-time employee hours from 2012 forward; thus, the service credit
projection and the estimated monthly allowance you see here may be much
higher than what you may receive at retirement age.
Deferred Members: You do not earn service credit after termination of
employment. The estimates provided are based on service credited as of
your termination date. No projected service was added.
|
|
Estimated
Monthly
Allowance
|
As noted above,
ACERA calculates your estimated monthly retirement allowance using the
plan’s formula. Refer to the How
Your Retirement Allowance is Calculated section of this web
page for a more detailed description of the plan’s formula components.
|
|
Estimated % of
Average Monthly
Salary
at Retirement
|
To help you
understand and plan for the income you may need in retirement, your
statement illustrates the percentage of your Average Monthly Salary
that may be delivered to you at retirement.
|
How
Accruals Based on Ventura Agreement Can Add to Your Pension
This
section illustrates the significant affect that unused vacation
accruals may
have on your retirement allowance. The Court’s decision in the Ventura
Case permits ACERA to
include eligible
vacation payments in your final average salary calculation. The amount
you
are eligible to include in your final average salary depends on your
member
type, as follows:
|
Tier I and Tier
III—General or Safety
|
Tier II—General
or Safety
|
Deputy Sheriffs
Only
|
|
Up to
1 year’s worth of vacation accruals can be converted to pay for
purposes of calculating your final average salary either by selling
back vacation during your last year of employment and or receiving a
vacation pay off (cash out) upon retirement.
|
Up to
3 year’s worth of vacation accruals can be converted to pay for
purposes of calculating your final average salary by selling back
vacation during your last three years of employment and receiving a
vacation pay off (cash out) upon retirement.
|
In
addition to vacation accrual sell backs and pay off, sick leave cash
out received upon retirement can also be converted to pay for purposes
of calculating your final average salary. Up to 13 days may be included
for Tier I members and 39 days for Tier II members.
|
How Your
Retirement Allowance is Calculated
This
section illustrates how ACERA uses the plan’s formula to calculate your
monthly
retirement allowance. It is important for you to understand these
factors and the
value of your plan benefits. The allowance available to you at
retirement is
equal to:
(Your Final
Average Salary at Retirement)
x
(Your Total Years of
Service Credit at Retirement)
x
(Your Retirement Age
Factor at Retirement)
Your
ACERA
Member
Handbook [1MB
PDF] and www.acera.org
provide detailed information and
descriptions of the factors
included in the retirement plan allowance formula; for reference, a
brief
summary follows.
|
Final Average
Salary
|
Final Average Salary
(FAS) is the average monthly compensation earned during the period
determined to be your final compensation period. FAS is calculated
based on your member type. For Tier I and Tier III members, ACERA
averages the highest 12 months of salary earned; for Tier II members,
ACERA averages the highest 36 months of salary earned. As noted above,
your FAS can also include payment for eligible vacation accruals. If you have reciprocity,
ACERA uses the highest average salary among your reciprocal systems to
calculate final average salary.
For
members whose highest pay is during part time service, ACERA will put
together enough part time pay periods to add up to 12 months for Tiers
I and III and 36 months for Tier II.
Note: Internal Revenue Code
Section 401(a)(17) may impose a limit on compensation for determining
benefits under defined benefit plans.
Consult
with your tax advisor for further details.
|
|
Total Years of
Service Credit
at Retirement
|
ACERA calculates the
service credit earned under each member type throughout your
retirement-eligible employment. In general, you earn a year of service
upon entry into the retirement system for each year you work in a
retirement-eligible job classification.
Service credit is calculated down to the fraction of
a week, which is why your service credit number has decimal places
after it.
If
your retirement day is the next day after your last day of work, your
accrued sick leave will be converted on a two-to-one basis into service
credit, up to a maximum determined by your MOU (typically 125 maximum) For example, 40
days of accrued sick leave would become 20 days of service credit.
|
|
Retirement
Age Factor
|
Each Tier and plan
type has a different set of age factors, set by state law. Within a range, the age
factors increase with every quarter of your birthday that passes until
you retire. So the
older you are when you retire, the higher the age factor, up to the
maximum age factor for your Tier and plan type.
The range of ages and age factors for each Tier and
plan type is printed on your statement.
|
Note:
The actual allowance available to you at retirement will equal the sum
of the allowances
calculated from each tier and plan of service (whether you are a Safety
or
General Member) earned during your ACERA membership.
Your allowance amount may be affected by
Internal Revenue Code limitations.
You
may not receive more than 100% of your final average salary. Refer to your Member
Handbook for more
detailed information.
If
you have additional questions, please call ACERA
at 1-800-838-1932.
|
|
