HMEPS recently learned that the City of Houston is offering a special incentive to retirement-eligible members. HMEPS is a separate entity from the city, and does not administer or have specific details on the incentive, but we will work diligently with retirement-eligible members and the City to process the expected increased number of retirements. We ask that you remember these important steps if you plan to retire soon:
There is a two-step process for retirement (click here for more details)
- the HMEPS retirement process, and
- the separate City of Houston process for documenting your departure from employment.
HMEPS cannot verify your eligibility to retire until after you submit a request to apply for retirement to HMEPS and we receive your city employment records. However, members who currently participate in DROP already received preliminary verification of retirement eligibility at the time they entered DROP and do not need to verify eligibility unless they had significant unpaid leave or missed contributions prior to DROP entry.
HMEPS looks forward to working with you and the City during this unique incentive offering, and we appreciate your efforts in facilitating your retirement.
For more information about retirement eligibility, required documents, and the retirement process, see HMEPS Benefits Handbook (as of January 2017), available on our website at hmeps.org. For more information about the city incentive, call your City representative.