730 E. Broad Street, Suite 900
Richmond, VA 23219
Fax # (804) 646-5299
Toll-Free (Outside Central Virginia): (888) 288-2781
Office Hours: By Appointment Only
Monday - Friday
9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
The Richmond Retirement System (RRS) administers the defined benefit pension plan and the defined contribution plan covering general and sworn employees of the City of Richmond, VA. RRS provides retirement, disability retirement, and survivor benefits for over 4,000 members. Our website provides easy, instant access to information about RRS benefits and services.
Each phase of your retirement life is and will be different, with its challenges and what-ifs. Some you might expect, while others might be surprising. We care about helping you to prepare yourself for those what-ifs. We care about customer satisfaction as it relates to your Richmond Retirement System (RRS) benefits. We hope this will make all the difference.
If you need assistance with a retirement issue, please call (804) 646-5958. If you have to leave a voicemail message, our goal is to return all calls within 24 hours.
You can also e-mail retirement@rva.gov. We monitor emails and voice mails on a daily basis.
Leadership and Governance
The Richmond Retirement System (RRS, System or Plan) is governed by a Board of Trustees in accordance with § 5B.01 of the Richmond City Charter. RRS is part of the Legislative Branch of city government, and is a quasi-governmental entity under City Council. The Executive Director reports to the Board. The Board has established and appoints an Investment Advisory Committee (IAC). More detailed information on the Board, Executive Director and IAC can be found by clicking here.
Funded Status
The Funded Status, as defined by the Governmental Accounting Standard Board (GASB), is calculated by the RRS actuary and is the Fiduciary Net Position divided by the Total Pension Liability. In simpler terms, its net assets at market value divided by the actuarial liability. Information on the historical and estimated projected funded status, along with an actuarial statement on the financial solvency of the Plan, can be found by clicking here.
Please note: An Actuarial Valuation is prepared every fall and these charts will be updated accordingly. The most recent Actuarial Valuation, prepared by the System’s actuary, can also be found by clicking here.
How is the Defined Benefit (DB) Plan Funded?
Information on how the DB Plan is funded can be found by clicking here.
RETIREE INFORMATION
The Richmond Retirement System (RRS) recently underwent an extensive 14-month internal audit conducted by the City’s Internal Auditor. Most importantly, pension calculations were audited, some dating back 40 years, and all pensions tested were proved to be correct by the Internal Auditor. Other areas were examined with no issues found.
One area with reported issues related to the death of retirees and beneficiaries. The auditor determined that RRS overpaid 44 deceased retirees and beneficiaries a gross amount of $554,661.50, with $139,000.74 recovered, over a nine-year period. During that time period, RRS paid $645 million in pension payments and processed over 38,000 pension deposits. Internal procedures were updated and are in place at RRS.
The primary reason that death-related overpayments occur relates to a change in privacy laws that has made obtaining death information difficult; hence, stopping a pension at death will not always occur immediately after a retiree’s death. It is important to note that all pensions are stopped as soon as notification is received.
RRS is committed to its fiduciary responsibility to manage the trust fund diligently and to actively minimize overpayments. RRS relied on one of the most comprehensive commercially available death databases up until early 2024, when we transitioned to a new and enhanced death record database. We were an early adopter of this software program, and it is in use at RRS today. Our overpayment percentage has decreased significantly with the new death database.
The first line of defense for any pension plan in managing death related overpayments is you, the annuitant. It is important that when a family member, who is collecting a RRS pension, dies the family contacts RRS as soon as reasonably possible so that the file can be reviewed to determine if there are any benefits due to the beneficiary.
Please contact us at 804-646-5958 or retirement@rva.gov if you have any questions about this process. The full report from the Internal Auditor can be found here.
Please click here to print the document: Instructions at Death. Keep it with your estate planning documents and give a copy to the Administrator of your Will.
Richmond Retirement System
To review your paystubs, please log in to Retiree Self Service
To update your address, please fill out the Change of Address form and send it to our office by email, mail or fax.
To update your beneficiaries, please fill out the Beneficiary form and/or the Life Insurance Beneficiary form and send it to our office by email, mail or fax. Please note that there are 2 forms.
Need to update your direct deposit? Please fill out the Direct Deposit Form and send it to our office by email, mail or fax.
2025 Pension Payment Dates
Your monthly pension will be paid on the last working day of the month by direct deposit.
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Feel free to visit the social security administration or the IRS websites at the links below:
Social Security
Internal Revenue Service
Changes to the 2025 Health Insurance Benefit Premium Discount program have been made. Please click here for more information. Important Information on the Health Assessment Initiative now through August 31, 2024. Please click here.
Special Announcement on Open Enrollment:
For important information about open enrollment, please click here.
OPEN ENROLLMENT DATES
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City Benefits
•Chapter 22 - Code of City of Richmond - Section of City Code that governs City of Richmond retirement benefits and retirement benefit administration
•City of Richmond Department of Human Resources -- Information about benefits and employment with the City of Richmond.
•Mission Square Retirement -- provides account access to City of Richmond 401(a) Defined Contribution and Deferred Compensation plan members. Employees can manage their accounts online by changing allocations, transferring funds and more. Online tools include a retirement planning calculator, an asset allocation model and a hypothetical investment growth calculator.
