Commissioner René García successfully passes BENCOR agreement

MIAMI-DADE – During yesterday’s BCC meeting, Commissioner René García’s resolution passed, creating an agreement with BENCOR to provide certain retirement benefits through a special pay plan for county employees.

The Special Pay Plan allows for employees’ unused leave pay to be transferred as non-elective employer contributions into a retirement account at BENCOR. The contributions are 100% vested for the employee participant and can either be withdrawn from the plan upon retirement, total disability, or death of the employee, or invested by the employee in an array of investment options made available under the plan by BENCOR.

Benefits include:

• for any leave pay invested through the Special Pay Plan, income taxes are imposed only upon withdrawal from the participant’s plan account which is typically at a lower tax rate; and
• does not affect employees’ ability to make voluntary contributions to other retirement accounts, such as a 457(b) plan, within limits specified by the Internal Revenue Code

“This is a win-win situation for all. The taxpayer’s liability is reduced, and for our employees, their tax liability is deferred until they withdraw the funds,” said Commissioner García.