HUNTINGTON -- Dozens of Cabell County Schools employees attended workshops at Cabell Midland and Huntington high schools Wednesday afternoon to help determine whether they should switch their pension plans.
For many, the decision to transfer from the Teachers' Defined Contribution Plan to the Teachers Retirement System is marred by how much it will cost to buy back the 25 percent of service time that won't transfer over. The amounts have been extraordinary for some, and it almost stops them from transferring altogether. But employees who switch aren't required to buy back the service time, officials say.
"There is a lot of misinformation out there," West Virginia Education Association's Kym Randolph said. "You are talking about people who went into teaching, not finance."
Randolph was at Huntington High trying to point employees to the backs of their forms, which show the dollar amounts that mean the most -- how much their monthly benefit will be in each of the plans when they retire .
"They can't get past (the buyback number)," Randolph said. "That's what people are fixated on."
Each state education employee received an individual retirement plan information guide from the Consolidated Public Retirement Board laying out the choice they have to make by Monday, May 12. Thursday is the final day employees can turn their transfer papers in to their supervisors.
The biggest difference in the plans is, for most people, how much their monthly benefit will be when they retire. In the state's TRS, which was closed to new employees from 1991 to 2005, employees will get a guaranteed monthly amount for as long as they live. In the TDC, which was enacted from 1991 to 2005 to bail out a nearly bankrupt TRS plan, employees only get what they have in their financial portfolios.
Geneva Kent Elementary aide Teresa Roy said she and her husband, David, were leaning toward staying in TDC until they heard Randolph's presentation. Both said they left Wednesday with a more clear understanding of what the transfer means.
"We want to do what is in our best interest in the long run," Teresa Roy said. "We were going to stay, and we needed to talk to the experts."
By switching to the TRS plan and working until she is 60 means the Roys will get another $300 to $500 per month when she retires. Now, they said, they have to decide whether to buy back her 25 percent of service time.
However, no one will have that choice if 12,343 of the 18,989 active TDC members don't elect to switch. The West Virginia Retirement Board Web site has been receiving weekly updates from the accounting firm handling the count. The number still stands at 2,251, but Randolph said it is likely much higher because schools across the state have been collecting transfer forms for the past few weeks. Supervisors, however, are electing to send them all at once this Friday to save on the cost of postage.
Individual employees can send them on their own, but the transfer papers must be postmarked by May 12.
"If you don't make a decision by sending in the form, you are making a decision to stay where you are," Randolph said.
The accounting firm should have the final numbers released by June 5.
For more information, education employees should talk to their supervisor or visit www.wvretirement.com.
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