Employees are eligible to retire after:
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At age 60 with 8 years of service; or
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At any age with 20 years of service; or
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When Age + Your Years of Service = 75
Anderson County participates in the Texas County and District Retirement System (TCDRS) and has belonged since January 1968. This System was established by legislative act in 1967 under the State’s Constitution. Under the system, employees contribute an established percentage of their gross salary and the County funds the amount necessary to meet plan obligations and benefits. Interest is credited annually. For details, read the official TCDRS handbook. Some basic information about plan participation is:
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All regular full-time and part-time employees of the County SHALL become a member of the Retirement System upon their effective date of employment.
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Participants are vested after eight (8) years in the system.
Procedure
When a member is eligible for retirement, selection of any one of several optional plans for retirement must be made and an application for service retirement completed AT LEAST 45 DAYS BEFORE EFFECTIVE DATE OF RETIREMENT.
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When the application is received, the various options for service retirement will be explained by the Payroll Section of the Auditor’s Office. There are also several disability retirement benefits available to eligible employees.
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Should a participating employee leave the employment of the County prior to qualifying for retirement benefits, that employee shall have the right to apply for refund of their contributions to the system along with interest earned on such contributions. The employee shall not be entitled to the County’s portion contributed to the system on their behalf nor the interest thereon.
A "retiree" is defined as: (1) a person retiring from active county service under the provisions of TCDRS, or (2) a person retiring from active county service who has qualified for retirement under the disability retirement provisions and who is actually receiving retirement benefits from TCDRS.
RETIREE INSURANCE ELIGIBILTY
For purposes of this section, “vested in the County’s group health insurance” means the completion of eight years of service as a full-time employee for Anderson County while enrolled in the County’s group health insurance plan.
All employees who were vested in the County’s group health insurance as of December 31, 2019, will have the option of retaining the County’s group health insurance coverage upon their retirement. To be eligible for retirement with retiree health insurance benefits, an employee in this category must meet one of the following conditions:
1. Attained the age of 60 and vested in the County’s group health insurance as defined above.
2. Completed 20 years of eligible service as defined by the Texas County and District Retirement System (TCDRS).
3. Completed years of service as defined by TCDRS plus employee’s age equals 75 or greater.
Employees who become vested in the County’s group health insurance after December 31, 2019, will have the option of retaining the County’s group health insurance coverage upon their retirement. To be eligible for retirement with retiree health insurance benefits, an employee in this category must meet one of the following conditions:
1. Attained the age of 60 and vested for health insurance purposes as defined above.
2. Completed 30 years of service as a full-time employee for Anderson County.
Any employee with a break in service must have been in full-time active employment with the County for twenty-four (24) consecutive months at time of retirement in order for the years of service prior to the break in service to be counted toward eligibility for retiree health insurance benefits.
Upon retirement of employees in the above categories, if the retiree elects to remain in Anderson County’s group health insurance plan, he/she will be required to make the same contribution toward the cost of health insurance coverage as is required of active employees with similar dependents for their coverage election.
It is possible for an employee to be eligible for retirement with TCDRS and not meet the eligibility requirements for retiree health insurance benefits as outlined above. Retirees not meeting the above eligibility requirements will have the option of retaining the County’s group health insurance coverage upon their retirement, provided that the retiree pays one hundred percent (100%) of the required monthly premium for their coverage election.
For all categories of retirees listed above, all group health insurance coverage shall cease upon the retiree’s attainment of the age of sixty-five (65). If the retiree’s spouse and/or children have been covered under Anderson County’s group health insurance plan as dependents of the retiree during the entire duration of the retiree’s coverage, they may continue to be part of the group health insurance plan after the retiree reaches the age of sixty-five (65). An eligible dependent spouse may only be covered until the spouse reaches the age of sixty-five (65). Eligible dependent children may only be covered until the child reaches the age of twenty-six (26).
If coverage ceases for a retiree, dependent spouse, or dependent child during the period that a retiree was eligible for retiree health insurance benefits, the retiree, spouse, and or dependents may not be added again at a later time.
The Commissioners Court reserves the right to modify, revoke, suspend, terminate, or change this policy regarding retiree health insurance benefits, in whole or in part, at any time.
All previous policies in conflict with these policies are hereby repealed. However, this change in policy is not intended to affect retirees who have already retired under a previous policy and are currently receiving retiree health insurance benefits.