The decision to purchase all or some of your service is completely voluntary. In general, because the purchase can be costly, you may want to confer with a tax advisor or financial planner. The earlier you begin your purchase, the less costly it may be. Considerations:
- Optional retirement requires 25 years of MPD service (excluding suspensions and non-creditable leaves of absence and breaks in service). You may want to consider purchasing your prior service to meet the 25 years MPD service requirement.
- You must have 25 years of MPD service for your longevity pay to be used in your retirement calculation. If purchased, your prior LLEO service is credited as MPD service.
- The mandatory retirement age is 60 (unless extended by MPD). If you are mandatorily retired, you will be retired under optional retirement if you have at least 5 years of MPD service.
- Deferred retirement age is 55 and requires 5 years of MPD service. If you work at MPD for at least 5 years, you will be entitled to a deferred retirement benefit. You may want to purchase your prior service to be vested in a deferred retirement benefit if you leave MPD before completing 5 years of service.
- If you retire under a POD disability, your purchased service does not apply.
- You need at least 5 years of MPD service to retire under a non-POD disability. You may want to purchase your prior service to be vested.
- To include your longevity pay in your average base pay at retirement, you must retire with at least 25 years of MPD service.
- For retiree health care, you will need to have worked for the District for at least 10 years and have been enrolled in a District health plan for 5 years at your retirement (these requirements do not apply to POD disability retirement). If purchased, your prior LLEO service counts as District employment for retiree health care eligibility.
- Your eligible survivors may be entitled to receive a survivor annuity(ies) regardless if you purchase your prior LLEO service.