I recently tried to put down some of my thoughts regarding past events affecting TRS. There is so much info and I know I barely touched the surface. As I wrote I concluded several things - ECR rates in the 80's were higher than they are now, legislation(or whatever) that allowed elected officials to join the systems and legislative aides to be vested with very few days greatly affected the unfunded liability because people with little pension income still receive a huge health care benefit, dishonest actuaries caused great damage, actions by the University and its lobbyists greatly influenced the TRS population and the ECRs and, lastly, the State is shortsighted for not considering the future impact of the current DCR members leaving and taking away state dollars and therefore fewer retirees staying in the state and contributing pension dollars to the local economies. Please offer any suggestions or criticisms. This is after all my opinion and there is a wealth of info still out there to consider.
-- Gayle Harbo
The Teachers’ Retirement System [TRS] was established in March 1945, but did not become a joint contributory system until legislation was passed in 1955. At the time only full years were credited and normal retirement was age 60.
Teachers and TRS employers do not contribute to Social Security. Retirees from TRS are therefore not eligible for Social Security benefits unless they had other employment. Even then the benefits they receive may be reduced. When at age 65 they apply for Medicare Part B, the expense is out-of -pocket. Most PERS employees have employer contributions to both the PERS retirement system and either Social Security or a Supplemental Benefit System , an extra 6+% of pay from both employee and employer for additional income upon retirement.
