Regular employees working more than 20 hours per week no longer contribute to Social Security and are automatically enrolled in the Pitkin County Public Employees 401(a) Retirement Plan. Pitkin County contributes an amount equal to 13% of your gross income to the Pitkin County Public Employees Retirement Plan. 

IMPORTANT TO KNOW:

• An account will be established for an eligible employee after their first payroll cycle, including the mandatory deferral. The account will be set overnight on payday Friday.

• Employees can access their accounts via the website/mobile app/contact center the following day.

• A notification letter will be mailed to your address provided to Pitkin County via MUNIS ESS. The letter is sent via USPS mail.

You may qualify for a loan from your 401(a) Plan. The available loan amount is based upon plan rules and IRS limits

To review your eligibility and the amount that may be available, please visit your online account or call Empower to discuss

• Phone number: 800-701-8255

• Website: cra-online.empower-retirement.com

There are additional costs and potential adverse impacts on your retirement plan account by taking out a loan.

Use the loan consideration calculator provided by Empower for your 401(a) plan at https://www.empower.com/me_and_my_money/ to review potential impacts on your future balances.

Schedule a time to meet with an Empower representative regarding your 401(a) account.  Click here!  

If you want to apply for a 457 loan, follow the steps bellow:

1. Employees must contact the customer service to get a “loan quote”.  A representative will calculate how much is available for borrowing and discuss different payment scenarios.  Then, the rep will give specific instructions how to submit the request.

CRA - Phone: 800.352.0313

2. Employees must fill out the loan form (see below) to obtain the loan application.  There is no other way for an employee to get a hold of a loan application.  

3. Once the loan application is complete, employee will submit the request in one of these three ways:

• Mail in the form (regular mail and express mail addresses are on page two of the form).  This method is not secure.

• Fax in the form (fax number is on the instructions: 1-866-745-5766).  This method is not secure.

• Upload the form via the participant website.  This is the preferred method.  This method is secure. Access your Empower account for this option. 

4. Send also an email to hrbenefits@pitkincounty.com with your loan application form completed, so we can track your loan application and set-up the payroll deductions. 

Pitkin County will match 1% or 2% of an employee's gross salary into the 401(a) Pitkin County Employees Retirement plan every pay contingent upon the employee voluntarily electing and actively contributing at least 1% or 2% of their gross salary into the 457(b) governmental plan administered by CRA (Colorado Retirement Association). 

Employees electing to participate in this plan, with the Employer match of 1% or 2%, plus the already existing 401(a) contribution by Pitkin County, will receive 14% or 15% of gross salary in their 401(a) account.

To participate and receive the matching 1% or 2% of gross salary, you should select a pre-tax % contribution of at least 1% or 2% in Munis ESS. 

When Can I make changes to my 457(b) contributions and is there a deadline?

Participants who would like to increase/decrease their contributions to the 457(b) plan, must submit a 457(b) contribution amount change in Munis ESS before the Payroll Master Change Date (find these dates in the payroll calendar on the Finance website) to have it effective on the following paycheck. Please reach the payroll calendar with the deadlines to submit the changes. 

I need to change my address on file. How do I do that?

For 401(a): 

Actively Employed: Only the employer can update addresses. Please update your address in Munis ESS, as we use this information on the indicative data file sent to Empower.

Terminated from employment: may update their address via their online account or by contacting the Empower contact center.