Dumb questions about state pension (Houston, Dallas: transfer, school, move to)

[Maximite]

I apologize beforehand - as someone who has always worked in the private sector AND not in the state of Texas, I have a lot of questions about the state pension plan.

My fiance and I are planning to move to Dallas near the end of this year. He is currently a police officer working in Houston and on the pension plan, obviously. If he relocates from Houston to Dallas, are there any repercussions on his pension plan contributions? Does he amount that he gets put in every paycheck change (e.g. does it decrease back to an "entry level" or "starting stage" contribution?) Does he lose any of the money?

I know it's a specific question, but I was definitely curious. I will also be starting a state job in Dallas so it would be great to hear about the pension plan at all.

[DSL_PWR]

Only the entity managing the pension can answer your questions.

Discuss this with them.

[texasdiver]

Yes, pensions can have a lot of complicated and rigid rules. Be super certain you understand all of the implications before making such a career decision. Your fiance should schedule a meeting with a benefits expert in his HR department.

I know how Texas teaching pensions work. In the case of teachers you lose nothing be transferring from one school system to another within the state of Texas because it is a state-wide pension system not a individual district pension. But I know nothing of how police pensions work and whether they are state-based or managed locally by each separate police jurisdiction.

[Trainwreck20]

Originally Posted by texasdiver

Yes, pensions can have a lot of complicated and rigid rules. Be super certain you understand all of the implications before making such a career decision. Your fiance should schedule a meeting with a benefits expert in his HR department.

I know how Texas teaching pensions work. In the case of teachers you lose nothing be transferring from one school system to another within the state of Texas because it is a state-wide pension system not a individual district pension. But I know nothing of how police pensions work and whether they are state-based or managed locally by each separate police jurisdiction.

Somewhat off-topic, but - a few districts have teachers pay into Social Security, while most don't, so there is some potential impacts by changing districts.

To the OP - by all means, talk to HR and get specifics.

http://www.atpe.org/en/Advocacy/Issu...Participate-in

https://www.austinisd.org/legislature/social-security

[jackalope48]

My recollection is that both Houston and Dallas have their own municipal police pension systems. The state system is actually a collection of city's systems and if I recall correctly San Antonio and Corpus are the two largest in that system. No matter what he should talk to the administrators of both to see what happens because it may be there is no portability and he functionally would have two pensions but not get good benefits from either. Houston's pension has been dramatically underfunded by the city over the years compared to other places.