By Susan Tallant/reporter

Effective Jan. 1, 2008, new part-time TCCD employees will be enrolled in the FICA Alternative Retirement Plan without an option to select Social Security.

The plan, voted on at the November Board of Trustees meeting, will offer an attractive set of retirement benefits for the employee and increase savings for the college.

“It really gives employees more control over their money to invest in their future,” Erma Johnson Hadley, vice chancellor for administration, said.

Since the plan’s beginning in 1991, TCCD employees have been given a one-time option to enroll in either the FICA or Social Security plan.

If an employee selects FICA, TCCD contributes 1.3 percent of the eligible employee’s salary, and the employee contributes 6.2 percent to the plan.

With the Social Security plan, both the employee and TCCD contribute 6.2 percent of the salary. The new mandatory plan will save the district money in contributions.

Johnson said current employees have the option to stay in the Social Security plan or have the option to invest the money.

“No employee in the Social Security plan will be forced into this plan,” she said. “It is just an option.”