9 February 2010 Memo

Effective 9 February 2010 mileage reimbursement rate changes to 40.5 cents.
Print Reimbursement Form Fill-in Reimbursement Form

26 August 2009 Memo
To: All Professional Educators • From: Vicki Hammer • Re: Early Retirement Incentive Program

The early notification incentive program grants a $500 bonus to professional educators who provide written notification to the Pendleton County Board of Education of their intention to retire from their positions at the conclusion of the current school year. Classroom Teachers are "teachers in elementary and secondary programs (pre-kindergarten through 12th grade), including speech language pathologists, counselors, and librarians." The phrase "at the conclusion of the current school year" is defined as completing the current school year and not working the first day of the employment term of the following school year. The written notification must be received by December 1 of the school year in which the individual intends to resign or retire.

The Board recognizes that loyal employees sometimes find that they need to extend their employment a few days into a school year in order to be eligible for retirement benefits. Therefore, it shall be policy of the Board to extend the $500 bonus to teachers who submit a written notification of their intent to retire by no later than October 1 of the new school year. This notification must be received prior to December 1 of the current school term which would allow the Board sufficient time to recruit a replacement for the retiring teacher. This extension does not apply to personnel who are not eligible for retirement but simply wish to resign. The cost of the bonus shall come from county funds.

We have received a memorandum from the State stating that effective January 20, 2009, the reimbursement mileage rate is 44.5 (.445) cents per mile. When your travel reimbursement forms come in, they will be reviewed and changes made as necessary according to this change of reimbursement rate. If you have any questions, you can call me at 358-3303.

You may have heard about new "403(b) regulations" for tax sheltered annuities (TSAs). For the first time in more than 40 years, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has issued new regulations governing how our 403(b) retirement program needs to operate. Most of the changes focus on plan administration issues that you, as a 403(b) plan participant, will most likely not see. But there are some changes that will affect you.

Under the final regulations, we must determine which investment providers will be included in our plan document as being approved to receive ongoing contributions and/or contract exchanges under our 403(b) plan. We asked each of our investment providers currently receiving contributions, to meet the regulatory and administrative requirements of our Plan. Unfortunately, some of our providers did not fully comply with these requirements or participation with these vendors are very low and will be eliminated from our Approved Provider List. The following investment providers have been included on our Approved Provider List under the Pendleton County 403(b) Plan, effective January 1, 2009: American Fidelity, Horace Mann, Met Life, American Express and ING.