Minimum earnable salary set to increase next year
Members will need to earn $630 for full month’s credit
The minimum amount that members of the Ohio Public Employees Retirement System must earn each month to qualify for full service credit is increasing in 2017.
The minimum earnable salary for a full month of service credit will increase from $600 per month to $630 per month next year. The minimum earnable salary will increase another 5 percent, to $660 per month, in 2018. Members can earn partial service credit for a given month if they earn less than these amounts.
These changes stem from a provision passed in our 2012 pension legislation bill that ties minimum earnable salary to raises for township trustees. The minimum earnable salary has not increased since it was set in 2012.
The minimum earnable salary for health care will remain at $1,000, and there is no partial credit given for health care eligibility.
Michael Pramik
Michael Pramik is communication strategist for the Ohio Public Employees Retirement System and editor of the PERSpective blog. As an experienced business journalist, he clarifies complex pension policies and helps members make smart choices to secure their retirement.
The hardest thing to understand is the “windfall elimination ” regarding Social Security. Almost all contributions to SS were a result of my working second jobs not related to my law enforcement career. When I retired my benefits from SS were slashed by 60%.
Sandra,
We have been working with the Ohio Congressional delegation to try to reform the Windfall Elimination Provision, and we’ll continue to do so in 2017.
Here is Social Security’s page that explains why this provision is in place and how it works.
–Ohio PERS
Please keep working on eliminating the Windfall Elimination Provision before I retire in a few years. I have alittle of each social security and PERS, I need all of it. Thank you!
I agree. When you work and satisfy the requirements for SS and for PERS, you should receive the benefit you are entitled to from both. Funny how Congress does not pay into SS and there is a Windfall Elimination Provision for Civil Workers and a Social Security Offset for Military Retirees as well. I hope that you continue to fight for the elimination of this provision for all of us who have worked very hard to put ourselves into a position of being able to afford to live in retirement.
Please keep working on eliminating the Windfall Elimination Provision. I do not receive any of my SS because of the WEP and I do not believe that is right. I paid into SS so I believe I should receive SS retirement too. After all, it IS my money I paid into it.
I work at a library for almost 20 years, Please eliminate the windfall elimination provision. My social security will be cut by 2/3
Do you anticipate increasing the minimum earnable salary for full service credit in 2019 or subsequent years? If so, will the increase be something that can be depended upon for budgetary planning projections?
There are no plans to change the minimum earnable salary in 2019. Any increase would need to be approved by the Ohio legislature.
Julie, OPERS