Members serving in municipal or county elected office who decide to retire may continue in office at retirement without the required 90-day break in service provided they have reached age 59½. A retiree elected to a municipal or county elected position may either cancel his or her retirement and return to work (accruing additional service credit while receiving the salary for the position) or remain in retirement and waive the salary or receive compensation not to exceed 25 percent of his or her average compensation at retirement. If a retiree chooses to serve in local elected office and continue in retirement, he or she must file annually PERS Form 9C,
County/Municipal Elected Official Reemployment Acknowledgement/Election
.
The Bipartisan American Miners Act of 2019 reduced the age for in-service distribution from 62 to 59½ for qualified 401(a) plans like PERS. While this federal change was optional for retirement plans to implement, Mississippi law allows municipal and county elected officials to retire and continue in elective service once they have reached the age that will not result in a prohibited in-service distribution as defined by the Internal Revenue Service. That age is now 59½. The member must meet all other vesting requirements for retirement as found in Mississippi law.
