Election stats
From the signing of the law on August 3, 2022 until the end of the election period on June 30, 2023, we conducted numerous outreach initiatives to inform the eligible members of this election of their rights and actions they needed to take. This included:
- Mailed correspondence
- Emailed correspondence
- Online seminars for eligible members
- Phone outreach, as needed
At the conclusion of the election, a total of 5268 members responded with a RetirementPlus participation decision. Per the statute affecting these members, those who did not respond are now ineligible to participate in RetirementPlus. Any further opportunity would need to be made allowable by legislation as the MTRS’ operations are ultimately beholden to Massachusetts General Law.
Eligibility
The new law provided a final, one-time opportunity to participate in the R+ program only to those members who:
- were not a part of the original election window prior to July 1, 2001, AND
- transferred into the MTRS from one of the other 103 Massachusetts public retirement systems between July 1, 2001 and June 30, 2022, AND
- did not yet submit an election.
All other members were not included in the scope of this legislation. There are other bills related to RetirementPlus currently circulating through the Massachusetts Legislature but whether or not they are ultimately passed into law is subject to the legislative process. For information about these bills, please see https://malegislature.gov/.
R+ Election and Rate Notifications to Employers and Members sent in August 2023
The last broadcast email sent from rates@trb.state.ma.us to both Employers and Members were sent between Thursday, August 10, 2023 and Monday, August 14, 2023 with a subject of “MTRS Rate and R+ Confirmation – Member’s first and last name (i.e., John Smith)”.
The email confirmed the final R+ Election as well as the correct contribution rate that should be withheld. The MTRS requested that schools made any necessary rate changes by September 30, 2023.
If you were part of the special election and do not remember receiving this email, please search your email, including your spam/junk folder.
Next steps
We ask for your patience as we must wait to confirm that rates are correct as of September 2023 for nearly 8,000 members that were eligible for the special election.
We will contact you once a determination has been made on your account.
We understand that you may want to receive this determination immediately; however, we can only calculate the final amount once the correct rate has been released to your account, which may not occur for several more months. This will vary for each member depending on the completion of your district’s monthly retirement contribution reports.
What to expect once a determination has been made
Once your correct rate has been verified, the MTRS will research whether you have paid the correct contribution rate for your final R+ Election, retroactive to your MTRS start date. We will determine whether you:
- owe contributions,
- are due a refund, or
- have contributed at the correct rate the entire time.
You will receive an email with your final determination. Please always be on the lookout for emails from the MTRS, update your email address in your MyTRS account if necessary, and check your spam/junk folder from periodically in case our email goes to junk/spam.
Members that did not submit a timely response prior to 6/30/2023
If you did not submit an election prior to the statutory deadline of 6/30/2023 it is too late to make an election.
We will make a final determination on your account which is described above.