Travis County Commissioners Court
Tuesday, October 19, 2010,
Item 2
Number 2 is approve proclamation declaring October 17 through 23, 2010, as national save for retirement week in Travis County.
>> hello, judge and Commissioners. How are you all?
>> good morning. Fine.
>> I’m norman mcrea with h.r. And diane is our new boss. This week -- we did this last peek for the first time. Part of the program is to recognize this week, it's a nationally recognized day for save for retirement and we have a proclamation, and judge, if you would be so kind, we would love for you to read that.
>> okay. It reads: whereas October 17 through 23rd, 2010, has been congressly endorsed as, quote, national save for retirement weekend, quote. Whereas united states residents are living longer than ever before, the cost of retirement continues to rise and retiree health care costs continue to increase at a rapid pace. Whereas recent data from the employee benefit research institute indicate that in the united states less than two-thirds of workers or their spouses are currently saving for retirement and that the actual amount of retirement savings falls for below the amount need to do adequately fund retirement. Whereas many employees have available to temperature through their employers access to defined benefit for defined contribution plans to assist them in preparing for retirement and may not be aware of retirement options and the importance of saving for retirement. Whereas many employees may not be taking advantage of workplace defined contribution plans at all or to the full extent allowed by the plans or under federal law. Whereas national save for retirement week is a special time to raise public awareness about the importance of adequate retirement savings and the availability of employee sponsored retirement plans, educate the population about the importance of participating in employer sponsored retirement plans, and encourage active employees and retirees to manage their retirement resources prudently, and whereas all Travis County employees can benefit from increased awareness of the need to save for retirement and the availability of tax advantaged retirement savings vehicles to assist them in saving for retirement. Now therefore we the Commissioners court of Travis County, Texas, do hereby proclaim October 17th through 23rd 2010, to be national save for retirement week in this community and encourage all of our residents to, quote, take charge of your retirement, end quote, and save for our retirement. And I move approval.
>> second.
>> this pretty much says it all, doesn't it.
>> thank you, judge. I didn't realize how long that was until you started reading it. We want to urge residents as well as county employees to take advantage of all retirement plan opportunities, deferred comp, I’ll just remind for county employees, we have our program with great west and we went to great west last year and they've done a great job and we've increased our participation. You have a committee that works hard for you for deferred comp program. We're going to come back in a few weeks with some recommendations from the committee so you will see us in a few weeks. But today we just wanted to get the word out to remember that to save for retirement. That the great west, if you are interested as an employee, it's gwrs.com on the web. The 1-800 number, 87018255. And the local office number is 457-9240. So we would urge you now is a good time to look at it because the court has -- has graciously increased our pay starting -- you'll see that in your paycheck starting October 29th, I believe. So if you haven't been participating, that might be a good time to start or if you want to increase your contributions, that would be a good time to consider that as well. We appreciate the time that you've given us this morning. Again, you can call me at 854-4821 if you have specific questions. The local office 457-9240 for great west. And gwrs.com is their website, and their 800 number, 800-701-8255. Thank you.
>> thank you very much. Any additional comments?
>> the only additional comment, we're lucky enough to have a very good retirement program but the 457 is a great addition to that. It's not just enough to have a lump sum set aside and I would encourage every one of our employees to take advantage of that.
>> just norm and his group and our internal group of employees have been working so hard for a long time doing some really great work and I really want to say thank you to you and the rest of the crowd who has been looking at this.
>> appreciate that. I represent the committee, but there's a lot of hard working members of that committee.
>> really hard work a good time if it's good for Travis County employees, it's good for Travis County residents.
>> exactly.
>> all in favor? That passes by unanimous vote.
The Closed Caption log for this Commissioners Court agenda item is provided by Travis County Internet Services. Since this file is derived from the Closed Captions created during live cablecasts, there are occasional spelling and grammatical errors. This Closed Caption log is not an official record the Commissioners Court Meeting and cannot be relied on for official purposes. For official records please contact the County Clerk at (512) 854-4722.
Last Modified:
Tuesday, October 19, 2010 2:33 PM
