Source: http://www.holyoke.org/departments/retirement-board/
Timestamp: 2015-03-27 06:54:55
Document Index: 631577244

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 91', '§91', '§ 91', '§ 91', '§ 11', '§ 11', '§ 12', '§ 12', '§ 11', '§ 12', '§ 11', '§ 12', '§ 9', '§ 11', '§ 11', '§ 11', '§ 12']

Retirement Board | City of Holyoke
The Retirement Board is responsible for providing City employees and retirees with information regarding retirement benefits and regulations.
To provide accurate, timely, and consistent guidance and benefits to members and their beneficiaries in a courteous and professional manner.
To ensure that the investment portfolio is adequately diversified at an acceptable risk level to provide sufficient assets to fund the benefits when due.
To become a retirement benefits leader in member counseling and benefits delivery by embracing technology, supporting staff development, and focusing on member needs.
The Holyoke Contributory Retirement System is one of 105 contributory retirement systems within the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Chapter 32 of the Massachusetts General Laws defines the benefits, contribution requirements, accounting procedures and funding for all 105 systems. The Public Employee Retirement Administration Commission (PERAC) oversees the systems and ensures that all boards are in compliance with Chapter 32.
The retirement system is funded by an annual appropriation from City departments and from employee contributions. These funds are invested in fixed income, domestic and international equities, commodities, private equity and real estate.
The Holyoke Retirement Board is responsible for providing all city employees with information regarding benefits and regulations pertaining to retirement, in addition to overseeing the administration of the office. The Board is made up of 5 members; an Ex-Officio member, 2 elected members, 1 member appointed by the Mayor, and 1 member appointed by the other 4 members.
Melissa Melendez - Admin Assistant
413-322-5590
mmelendez@ret.holyoke.ma.us Erica LeCours - Admin. Assistant
elecours@ret.holyoke.ma.us
Raymond Depelteau - Chief Investment Officer
rdepelteau@ret.holyoke.ma.us
John T. McCarthy, Chairman, Elected Member – term expires June, 2016
Daniel R. Owens, Elected Member - term expires June, 2017
Michele Aubrey, Appointed Member - term expires February, 2018
Bellamy H. Schmidt, Appointed Member - term expires January, 2017
(Ex-Officio Member) Click below to access 2015 Direct Deposit Calendar. Your benefit will be deposited into your account on the BLUE dates.
2015 Direct Deposit Calendar
Click below for Direct Deposit Authorization Form.
For a quick estimate of your retirement allowance, click on the appropriate chart below:
Percentage Chart – Group 1
Percentage Chart – Group 2
Percentage Chart – Group 4
Group 4 consists of public safety officers, such as policemen and firefighters, and certain employees with hazardous occupations. HOW MUCH DO MEMBERS CONTRIBUTE?
No, not all payments are considered regular compensation. Examples of payments not considered to be regular compensation: overtime commissions bonuses, other than cost of living bonuses amounts derived from salary enhancements or salary augmentation plans indirect, in-kind or other payments for such items as housing or lodging, travel, clothing allowances, and annuities welfare benefits lump sum buyouts for Workers’ Compensation job-related expense payments automobile usage
insurance premiums dependent care assistance one-time lump sum payments in lieu of or for unused vacation or sick leave payment for termination, severance, dismissal any amounts payable as premiums for working holidays (certain employees excepted) early retirement incentives any other payment made as a result of the employer having knowledge of the member’s retirement tuition payments in kind all payments other than payment received by an individual from his employing unit for services rendered to such employing unit, regardless of taxability
At the time of termination, you must file for a refund of your annuity savings account. You may come to the Retirement Board office or download the application form, (http://www.mass.gov/perac/forms/1003ApplicationforWithdrawal.pdf) complete and mail in. However mailed in forms must be NOTARIZED.
If you voluntarily terminate your public service with at least ten years of creditable service, or if you are involuntarily terminated, you will receive 100% of the regular interest that has accrued to your Annuity Savings Account. If you voluntarily terminate your public service with less than ten years of service, you will receive interest on your Annuity Savings Account at the annual rate of 3%.
If you terminate your public service and take a refund of your accumulated total deductions and later return to public service, you may re-establish your prior creditable service by buying it back. But, you will begin as a new member, making contributions at the current rate. Of note, if a person who is a member of a retirement system as of February 16, 2012 fails to buy back certain prior service before April 2, 2013, such a member will have to pay actuarial assumed interest instead of buy back interest on the purchase. Those who re-enter or re-establish service on or after February 16, 2012 will also have until April 2, 2013 to buy back certain prior service, or they must pay actuarial assumed interest instead of buy back interest on the purchase. WHEN MAY I COLLECT MY RETIREMENT?
Benefit Rate for membership prior to April 2, 2012 Click Here
Benefit Rate for membership on or after April 2, 2012 Click Here
Under the provisions of Chapter 32, Section 91, you are limited in the amount of income you earn or receive from other sources after retirement for superannuation only if you are re-employed in the service of the Commonwealth or any of its counties, cities, towns, districts or authorities. Employment in the private sector has no restrictions.
Your earnings for the period of post-retirement employment in any calendar year, when added to your retirement allowance, cannot be greater than the salary currently being paid for the position from which you retired plus $15,000. The additional $15,000 is not utilized in the calculation in the first year following retirement. Your post-retirement employment is also limited to a period of up to 960 hours, in the aggregate, in any calendar year. Your employment must cease when either limitation is reached. A retiree can waive his or her retirement allowance and these limitations would not apply.
Section 91 applies to both superannuation and disability retirees and to any public employment, regardless of whether or not it occurs in the same governmental unit from which the employee retired. It is irrelevant whether an employee-retiree chooses to classify him or herself as a “consultant” or “independent contractor”— the § 91 earnings limitations still apply if in fact the nature of the relationship is as an employee. For persons who retire after July 1, 2009, earnings as a consultant or an independent contractor are limited. A retiree may not avoid the limitations in §91 by forming a company if the primary reason for the formation is to avoid the limitations. Earnings for “details” which are paid by city or town payroll are included in the § 91 limitations, regardless of whether the city or town ultimately bills a private entity for the work. The § 91 limitations apply only to retirees, not survivors or beneficiaries. Please click below for more information:
To access portal, please click below:
The Holyoke Retirement Board is providing this information to assist active members when completing the member’s Beneficiary Selection Form. The public employee retirement statute, Chapter 32 of the Massachusetts General Laws, is notoriously complex, and the information contained herein is not a substitute for competent legal advice. Various sections of Chapter 32 will come into play depending upon whether a member dies as a result of an on-duty injury, or leaves a spouse and minor children.
The member’s Beneficiary Selection Form instructs the Holyoke Retirement Board on the disposition of your retirement benefits in the event that you should die prior to retirement. You have the right at any time prior to retiring to change your beneficiaries.
I. CHOICE OF BENEFICIARY TO RECEIVE A RETURN OF ACCUMULATED DEDUCTIONS AT MEMBER’S DEATH
The first part of the Beneficiary Selection form asks you to name a beneficiary or beneficiaries who, upon your death, will be entitled to receive a one-time payment of your accumulated retirement deductions which have been withheld from your compensation and credited to your account. This is paid in accordance with G.L. c. 32, § 11(2). You can name any person as your beneficiary to receive this benefit. The Board will pay the amount owed to the beneficiary or beneficiaries named on the Beneficiary Selection Form, unless another section of the retirement statute supercedes, as discussed below. This is a lump sum payment without an allowance. The Board cannot return the deceased member’s accumulated deductions to the § 11(2) beneficiary if there is an eligible beneficiary nominated under another section of the law,
§ 12(2)(d), or if there is an eligible spouse, or if there are minor or dependent children.
II. CHOICE OF OPTION D BENEFICIARY
The second page of the form asks you to name a § 12(2)(d) or “Option D” beneficiary. You can name only one Option D beneficiary, and it must be your spouse, child, a former spouse who has not remarried, mother, father, brother or sister. The Option D beneficiary will receive a Member Survivor Allowance for life. There would be no return of the accumulated deductions made to the § 11(2) beneficiary, because the Option D beneficiary’s rights are superior. Some members select a minor child as their Option D beneficiary in order to maximize the retirement benefit. III. RIGHT OF AN ELIGIBLE SPOUSE
Irrespective of what is stated on the Beneficiary Selection Form, if an active member dies having worked for at least two years and having been married for at least one year, and if the member and spouse were living together, the surviving spouse may elect to receive the Member Survivor Allowance provided in § 12(2)(d). The surviving spouse’s right trumps the right of any other beneficiary named by the member. Thus, a member is entitled to name a young child as the Option D beneficiary, knowing that the surviving spouse can always elect to receive the allowance instead of the child.
IV. COMPLETE BOTH SECTIONS OF THE BENEFICIARY SELECTION FORM
Members should make sure to designate both § 11(2) beneficiary or beneficiaries and a § 12(2)(d) beneficiary. If the member should die as the result of an on-duty injury, the accidental death benefit in § 9 provides that accumulated total deductions shall be paid in a lump sum to the named § 11(2) beneficiary. In addition to the lump sum payment, the Board will pay a lifetime allowance to the surviving spouse or other eligible beneficiary. Thus, accumulated deductions can be paid to one person and an allowance paid to a different person, as long as the member has designated a § 11(2) beneficiary. The member can name a spouse or other eligible beneficiary as both the § 11(2) and § 12(2)(d) beneficiary. Department Head
Cheryl Dugre
20 Korean Veterans Plaza,
Room 207 Holyoke, MA 01040	Map
413-322-5591 (fax)
cdugre@ret.holyoke.ma.us
Direct Deposit Helpful Links