Retirement Benefits
As an employee of the APA, you are eligible for retirement through the VA Retirement System (VRS). VRS administers the following two programs. We have included some of the highlights of each program.
Retirement Account
- Retirement contributions are made at no cost to the employee. [As compared to most private sector companies who only match a percentage of your contributions, APA employees’ take home pay is not reduced for retirement contributions.]
- Generally, the Commonwealth contributions are about 9% of your annual salary.
- You become vested after 5 years of employment and are eligible for the Commonwealth’s retirement plan.
To read more about the Virginia Retirement system go to their website at www.varetire.org
Deferred Compensation Plan
- The State offers a voluntary Deferred Compensation Plan (DCP) with a cash match 401a retirement plan. The state will match 50% of your voluntary contributions up to $20/pay period. For example if you contribute $40 each pay period to your DCP account, the state will contribute $20 each pay period as well. However, if you contribute $100 to your DCP account, the state still contributes $20 per pay period. This benefit provides up to an additional $480 dollars annually in your DCP account.
- The money you contribute into this account is pretax, which lowers your tax burden each year.
- Salaried State employees hired after January 1, 2008 are automatically enrolled into the 457 Deferred Compensation and Cash Match Plans.
- Contributions in this account cannot exceed $15,500 or 25% of your salary.