Retirement Systems Alert:
Retirees
Retirees, your cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) is now available and known. Per County Code, the COLA is calculated based on the annual increase in the Consumer Price Index (CPI-U) from March of last year to March of this year. Specifically, the CPI used to calculate the COLA is for the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria area and is calculated by the Federal Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Because the CPI increased by 3.4% from March of 2023 to March of 2024...
It will be reflected in your July 2024 benefit payment.
For those of you who could not attend the April 4, 2024 virtual retiree meeting, where we discussed how your retirement funds are invested, the recording of the meeting at this link.
Eligible retirees who subscribed to a County health plan (Cigna 80%, 90%, or MyChoice, or Kaiser Permanente) and participated in the plan year 2023 Motivate Me rewards program will receive an award in their March 2024 pension payments.
For questions regarding the reward program, please contact HR Central at 703-324-3311 or email LiveWell@fairfaxcounty.gov.
Your monthly retirement payment is also known as a benefit payment or an annuity. These payments are made by direct deposit on the last business day of every month. Your monthly payment statement is called a Pay Advice.
Your first benefit payment may be more or less than you expected. Several factors will affect your first monthly benefit payment including the actual date of retirement, exiting from DROP, and health, dental, and life insurance elections.
Follow this link for more information on:
As you have most likely noticed, inflation has been high for the past year or so. In March, the month that is the basis for your cost-of-living adjustment (COLA), growth in prices slowed down some. While the overall nationwide Consumer Price Index (CPI-U) was up 5.0% from March of 2022 to March of 2023, the CPI-U for the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria area that includes Fairfax increased by 3.7% for the same period. It is this local index that, by County Code, we must use to calculate your cost of living increase.
To summarize, all of you who have been retired for at least 1 year will see a 3.7% cost of living increase in your July retiree benefit direct deposit or check. If you will have been retired for less than 1 year in July, your increase will be prorated.
For more information, click here.
To see your retirement information log into - MyRetirement (Web Member Services) to see your:
Note: We are in the early stages of a project to modernize the MyRetirement system with a goal of allowing retirees to not only view their data but to also change addresses, bank information, and tax withholdings. Our commitment is to ensure that these capabilities are provided in a very secure manner, so that individual member and retiree data is only available to those verified as legitimate. We will provide updates on this project, and will seek retiree input, as the project progresses.
To update your address, please fill out the Change of Address form and send it to the Retirement Systems office. If you are moving out of Virginia, we will no longer withhold state tax. The only state tax we withhold is Virginia.
To change your beneficiary for your retirement balance, please complete and submit a completed Beneficiary Change Form to our office.
To confirm or change your beneficiary for life insurance or for any question you may have about life insurance, contact the County's or Schools Human Resources Departments.