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Membership in TMRS
If you are employed by a city that participates in TMRS, in a position that normally requires at least 1,000 hours of work in a year, you must join TMRS. Your city must certify every position that meets this work requirement and enroll each employee who fills such a position. Regardless of your age, you become a member of TMRS on the date you are employed by a participating city.
Employees who are not eligible for TMRS membership include:
- Employees in positions that normally require less than 1,000 hours of work in a year;
- Employees who are hired by cities on a seasonal or temporary basis; and
- Volunteer firefighters.
When you are employed in a position that requires TMRS participation, part of your compensation will be deducted from each paycheck and deposited into your member account. Matching funds contributed by your city are deposited in the city's account. Upon meeting certain requirements, you can retire and receive a guaranteed monthly payment for life based on your deposits and interest, the city's matching funds, and other credits.
Your participation begins on your date of employment, even though the city might consider you a probationary employee for other benefits.
| Q: |
Is participation in TMRS mandatory? |
| A: |
As long as you are employed in a job or work that normally requires at least 1,000 hours per year (determined by your city) in a TMRS city, you are required to be a member of TMRS as a condition of your job. The only way to end your TMRS membership is to stop working for all TMRS cities and withdraw (refund) your member deposits and interest. If you take a refund, you will not receive the city's matching funds. |
| Q: |
For TMRS purposes, what is compensation? |
| A: |
Compensation consists of your gross wages paid by the city. Compensation includes overtime pay, car allowances, uniform allowances, sick leave, vacation pay, and other payments you receive from your employer if they are taxable in the current year or future years. For information on workers' compensation payments, click here. |
| Q: |
What is "covered" employment? |
| A: |
"Covered" employment refers to your work for a city in a position qualified for retirement benefits. As a member of TMRS, you are a "covered" employee. |
| Q: |
Who decides which TMRS options my city will adopt? |
| A: |
Your City Council decides which provisions are included in your city's plan of TMRS benefits. The TMRS Act requires cities that are beginning participation in TMRS to include certain provisions in the plan. For cities that are already TMRS members, optional provisions, such as Updated Service Credit and Restricted Prior Service Credit can be added by actions of the City Council. |
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Vested Membership
When you are "vested," you have reached an important milestone in your TMRS membership. Once you have enough service credit to be vested and you reach the necessary age requirements, you may retire and receive a monthly retirement benefit for the rest of your life. If you leave your city job after you are vested and leave your member deposits with TMRS, you keep your rights to a retirement benefit. Your TMRS deposits will continue to earn interest, and when you meet the necessary age and service credit requirements, you can retire from TMRS. Most TMRS cities require five years of service credit to become a vested member. Some cities require 10 years.
When you vest, you also have the option of choosing a benefit payment plan for your beneficiary, if you die before retirement. In many cases, a member will not pre-select a plan, leaving the choice of payment options to the beneficiary. However, under some circumstances, such as when a beneficiary may have difficulty making a choice, pre-selection may be desirable. You do not have to pre-select a plan. If you need more information about pre-selecting a retirement plan after vesting, contact TMRS.
If you die after you are vested, and you have not chosen a beneficiary after vesting, benefits will be paid in this order:
- To your surviving spouse;
- If no spouse, to your surviving children;
- If no children, to the last beneficiary named (before you became vested);
- If no beneficiary has been named previously, to your estate.
| Q: |
I've worked for two TMRS cities - one with five-year vesting and one with 10-year vesting. How can I tell when I'm vested? |
| A: |
If you have at least five years of service credit, all with five-year cities, you are vested. Even if you leave the five-year city after vesting, you are still vested in TMRS.
If you are not vested with five years of service and must combine service credit from cities with five and 10-year vesting requirements, you must have 10 years of service credit to become vested.
If you have service in more than one TMRS city and wish to know more about vesting, please call TMRS.
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NOTE:
Once you become vested in TMRS, you remain vested, even if you go to work in another TMRS city with a higher vesting requirement. |
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Your Beneficiary
One of your most important decisions as a TMRS member is the designation of your beneficiary. Your beneficiary is the person who will receive a TMRS benefit (or the refund of your member deposits and interest) if you die.
When you first become a TMRS member, you will choose a beneficiary. Until you become vested (after five or 10 years of service credit, depending on your city's plan), if you die, your beneficiary will receive a refund of your member deposits and interest. Once you become vested, your beneficiary has certain options with regard to your retirement account if you die.
When you become vested, TMRS will contact you and ask you to designate a beneficiary for your vested benefit. In many cases, this will be the same person you designated when you originally became a member. However, members' circumstances change over a career, and since the value of your benefit changes when you become vested, you may wish to review your beneficiary designation at that time.
If you are married and vested, state law requires your spouse to give his or her consent before you can name someone other than your spouse as a beneficiary. This spousal consent requirement applies to your entire TMRS benefit, even if you marry after you have earned service credit or become vested. If you are married and have not filed a beneficiary designation with TMRS, your lawful spouse will be your beneficiary.
If you are unmarried, or your spouse has given consent to another beneficiary, you can name one person, your estate, a trust, or multiple people (limit three) on a "share-and-share-alike" basis (each person receives an equal share) as your beneficiary. You can even establish alternate (contingent) beneficiaries. If your primary beneficiary dies first, your alternate beneficiary can receive your benefits.
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Terminating TMRS Membership
Once established, your membership in the System continues until one of the following occurs:
- You terminate employment with all TMRS cities, and you withdraw (refund) your member deposits from TMRS.
- You retire under TMRS or die before retirement.
- You terminate employment with all TMRS cities and do not earn service credit with any participating city for more than 60 months (five years), and:
- you do not have enough service credit to be vested (five years in most cities);
- you are not employed in a position covered by a
retirement system that participates in the Proportionate Retirement Program; or
- you are not eligible for active duty military service credit.
NOTE:
The 60-month period begins with the month after you make your final deposit. TMRS only pays interest for the full year (one time per year in December). If your 60th month is not December, you will not receive interest for a partial year.
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| Q: |
What happens if I stop working for a TMRS city and start service with another participating TMRS city? |
| A: |
As long as you leave your member deposits in TMRS, you keep your membership in TMRS. This applies even if you are considered a probationary employee (for other non-TMRS benefits) of your new city. |
| Q: |
What happens if I begin a new job that is covered by another Texas statewide retirement system? |
| A: |
As long as you leave your member deposits with TMRS, you can participate in the following systems and retain your TMRS membership:
- Teacher Retirement System of Texas;
- Employees Retirement System of Texas;
- Judicial Retirement System of Texas (Plan 1 or 2);
- Texas County and District Retirement System; or
- City of Austin Employees Retirement System.
This applies even if you are not a vested TMRS member. Please inform TMRS if you become a member of one of these other retirement systems.
You can also combine service credit with these other systems for determining service retirement eligibility. If you do elect to use the Proportionate Retirement Program, it is recommended that you notify each retirement system in writing that you have service in other systems and wish to combine your service credit. Also click here for information on Proportionate Buyback.
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| Q: |
What happens if I leave employment with all TMRS cities, and I do not have enough service credit to be vested (five or 10 years of service, depending on your city's plan)? |
| A: |
If you are not working for any TMRS city, you may leave your member deposits with the System for up to 60 months and keep your TMRS membership. After the 60-month period, your membership terminates. If you leave your member deposits with TMRS, your deposits will stop earning interest after the 60-month period. Therefore, at that time, you should apply for a refund of your member deposits and interest. You can roll over your refund into an IRA or qualified retirement plan for income tax purposes.
For more information on refunds, please click here. |
NOTE:
The 60-month period begins with the month after you make your final deposit. TMRS only pays interest for the full year (one time per year in December). If your 60th month is not December, you will not receive interest for a partial year. |
| Q: |
I'm vested, and I leave the city workforce before I'm eligible to retire. If I take a refund, do I get the city's matching funds? |
| A: |
If you take a refund, you do not receive the city's matching funds. The only way to receive the city's matching funds is to retire from TMRS and receive a monthly benefit. |
| Q: |
If I leave city employment, do I have to receive a refund of my account? |
| A: |
You may leave your deposits and interest with TMRS for up to 60 months after you leave city employment. Your account continues to earn interest.
For more information on inactive accounts for non-vested members, please click here, or, for vested members, here. |
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Elected Officials
At one time, elected officials were not eligible to participate as members of TMRS. Now, compensated elected officials whose office normally requires performance of services of at least 1,000 hours per year in a participating city are eligible if:
- The city began its participation in TMRS after December 31, 1981; or
- The city began its participation prior to January 1, 1982, but has adopted an ordinance providing for participation by elected officials.
In either event, the elected official becomes a member on the latter of the effective date of the ordinance or the date the person took office. The official may be entitled to Prior Service Credit for employment with the city before the city joined TMRS.
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