Full-time officers commissioned on or after January 1, 2003 are covered by WSPRS Plan 2 and are required to become members of the plan.
Your future benefits are funded by contributions made by you and your employer during your period of membership and the investment earnings from those contributions. These contributions are held in trust and invested by the Washington State Investment Board. Your plan is a defined benefit plan. This means that at retirement you will receive a benefit based on your service credit and average final salary. The amount of your contributions or your employer’s contributions will not be a factor in calculating your retirement benefit.
You are required to contribute a percentage of your salary to your retirement plan. Salary means salaries or wages earned during a payroll period for WSPRSonal services, including mandatory overtime and tax-deferred wages, if any. Not included in salary are voluntary overtime, lump-sum payments for unused sick leave, unused annual leave or holiday pay.
Pay for service in a state elective position may count as salary. Please contact DRS if you are elected or appointed to the Legislature or other state elective office.
Your contribution is deducted from your paycheck each pay period and forwarded to WSPRS. Your employer deducts your contributions before calculating federal income taxes. This defers payment of the taxes until you or your beneficiary receives the money as either a benefit or a refund.
Your “accumulated contributions” are the member contributions you make to WSPRS plus the interest added to your account by DRS.
The member contribution rate is set by law and may be changed by legislative action.
Because the plan is designed to provide retirement income, you may not borrow from or against your contributions. See Taxation and assignment of benefits for more information.