The City of Tulsa adopted The Municipal Employees’ Retirement Plan (“MERP”) in 1960 to provide income for you when you retire. The Retirement Plan has been modified several times over the years. These Plan changes continue to make the Retirement Plan an excellent income base for your future.
ELIGIBILITY
To be a Plan participant, you must be a full-time permanent employee (forty hours a week) of the City or of an approved agency who contributes to the Plan. You become a participant on the first day of the month coinciding with or next following your full-time employment date in the covered position.
CONTRIBUTIONS
Employee contributions are those contributions that you are required to make toward the cost of the Plan. The current basic (required) contribution to the Plan is 8% of your earnings. Employee contributions to the Plan are tax deferred.
The employer’s contribution is determined with the help of an actuary. For example, the current employer contributions to the Plan equal 17% of covered employees’ earnings.
VESTED SERVICE
You earn vested service for all periods during which you or the employer makes basic contributions to the
Plan.
Vested service does not include any period during which contributions are not made to the Plan.
Participants who terminate with five or more years shall have acquired 100% vested interest in the Plan.
Participants who terminate with less than five years have no vested service in the Plan.
CREDITED SERVICE
Credited service is generally the period of time during which you contribute to the Plan. Your credited service is used in determining the amount of your monthly benefit. Credited service is measured in full years and completed calendar months. Monthly retirement income increases as the length of service increases.
FINAL AVERAGE EARNINGS
For Plan purposes, final average earnings mean the average monthly base salary you received during the highest paid 30 months with a participating employer out of the last 60 months of employment.
BENEFITS
Normal Retirement Benefit
Each participant whose continuous employment terminates at 65 years of age or later shall be eligible to receive a Normal Retirement Income payable monthly for life.
Early Retirement Benefit
If you have completed at least five (5) years of vested service and have been contributing to the Plan, you can retire at or after age 60 and receive Early Retirement Benefit. However, your normal retirement benefit will be reduced by 6% for each year that your retirement benefit payments begin before you reach the age of 65.
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