34 TAC §103.4
The Texas County and District Retirement System proposes
new §103.4, concerning the manner for calculating the amount of a member's
prior service and the average prior service compensation for use in the determination
of the member's maximum and allocated prior service credit. Under the proposed
rule, instead of using the actual compensation paid to the member during each
month of service during the 36 months preceding the subdivision participation
date, a subdivision may use an average of the compensation reported to the
Texas Workforce Commission for each full calendar quarter of the member's
employment during the 36-month period. The proposed rule provides a reasonable
alternative method for computing average prior service compensation which
permits the subdivision to use existing data from employment reports filed
with the Texas Workforce Commission in lieu of reconstructing information
in a form that may require manipulation of data from information that may
not be readily retrievable by the subdivision from its original payroll records.
The alternate calculation method will not disadvantage the members.
Tom Harrison, Deputy Director and General Counsel for the Texas County
and District Retirement System, has determined that for the first five-year
period the rule is in effect there will be no fiscal implications for state
or local governments as a result of administering the rule.
Mr. Harrison has also determined that for each year of the first five years
the rule is in effect the public benefit anticipated as a result of administering
the rule will be the administrative cost savings to the subdivision and the
retirement system by using information that is readily available to the subdivision
to determine past compensation instead of reconstructing payroll records.
There are no anticipated economic costs to small businesses, micro businesses
or persons who are required to comply with the rule as proposed.
Comments on the proposed new rule may be submitted to Tom Harrison, Deputy
Director and General Counsel for the Texas County and District Retirement
System, P.O. Box 2034, Austin, Texas 78768-2034.
The rule is proposed under the Government Code, §845.102,
which provides the board of trustees of the Texas County and District Retirement
System with the authority to adopt rules necessary or desirable for efficient
administration of the system.
The Government Code, §843.104 and §843.201 are affected by this
proposed rule.
§103.4.Certification of Prior Service and Average Prior Service Compensation.
(a)
The subdivision shall certify to the system the total number
of months of prior service performed by the member and the average prior service
compensation paid to the member. Based on this certified information, the
system shall record the amount of credited service for prior service granted
to the member and determine the member's maximum and allocated prior service
credit.
(b)
Prior service is that service performed for the subdivision
prior to the subdivision's effective date of participation. One month of credited
service for prior service shall be granted to the member for each calendar
month during which the member performed at least one day of service for the
subdivision other than as a temporary employee, prior to the month that includes
the subdivision's effective participation date.
(c)
Average prior service compensation is the average monthly
compensation paid to the member for those full months of employment performed
for the subdivision during the 36 months prior to the subdivision's effective
date of participation. Except for a member who does not have a full month
of employment with the subdivision, only full months of employment and the
compensation received for such full months of employment shall be considered
in the calculation of average prior service compensation. For a member who
does not have a full month of employment, the subdivision shall estimate a
monthly compensation for the member using the member's rate of pay.
(d)
Subject to subsections (e) and (f) of this section, instead
of calculating the actual compensation paid to the member for each specific
full month of employment performed for the subdivision during the 36-month
period, the subdivision may calculate the average monthly compensation of
its member using the total wages paid to the member for each full calendar
quarter of employment during the 12 calendar quarters immediately preceding
the effective date of participation as that member's compensation was reported
to the Texas Workforce Commission on the employer's quarterly report, averaged
over the total number of months in the calendar quarters of the member's employment
recognized for purposes of this calculation.
(e)
For those members having less than one full calendar quarter
of employment during the 36-month period, the subdivision shall use the procedure
described in subsection (c) of this section.
(f)
A subdivision whose effective date of participation is
in the third month of a calendar quarter may consider the quarter which includes
the effective date of participation to be the first calendar quarter prior
to the subdivision's effective date of participation. A subdivision described
by this paragraph may estimate the member's compensation for the last month
of the quarter.
(g)
If, under §843.201 of the Act, a subdivision has acquired
a public facility or assumed a governmental function, the date of acquisition
or assumption shall be the effective date of participation for purposes of
calculating the prior service and average prior service compensation of those
members eligible under that section.
This agency hereby certifies that the proposal has been reviewed
by legal counsel and found to be within the agency's legal authority to adopt.
Filed with the Office of
the Secretary of State on July 24, 2006.
TRD-200603896
Tom Harrison
Deputy Director and General Counsel
Texas County and District Retirement System
Proposed date of adoption: September 7, 2006
For further information, please call: (512) 637-3230