Crossville To Rejoin TCRS Retirement System For Employees

Crossville wants to rejoin the Tennessee Consolidated Retirement System to offer city employees more freedom with retirement savings.

Crossville Mayor RJ Crawford said over the past three years, the city has offered significant pay increases to city staff. He said in conversations with HR Director Leah Crockett, he learned that people are still hesitant to work for the city due to its retirement plan.

“Now, that will be a barrier that’s removed,” Crawford said. “So, we’re excited. Plus, I think it’s good business in regards to taking care of our employees and TCRS has a really, really good plan. Hard to beat out in the private market, which we currently have, so for us, it was a no-brainer.”

Crawford said many years ago, a previous city council voted to leave the TCRS because the plan used to be very cost-prohibitive.

He said the city will use the TCRS “Hybrid Plan.” Crawford said the plan allows employees to have a fund that functions like a pension plan, and another side that works like a traditional IRA. He said retirees will receive money monthly from one side and can draw from the IRA side whenever they want.

“That would be one last step to make people want to come to the city and work more attractive,” Crawford said. “I think we’ve got ourselves in line with what the regional pay rates are for police, fire, street workers, etcetera.”

Crawford said the city matches both sides of the hybrid plan. He said employees already working with the city will be allowed to retain their current plan if they so choose.

“It gives the freedom and the choice to the employee still if they want to stay,” Crawford said. “If they like where they are or if they want to get in, it really just comes down to them.”

He said next, the city will have to pass a TCRS resolution that will be submitted to the TCRS Board. He said that board will choose to accept or deny, then give the city action steps to work through before the transition is final.