Benefits Handbook

A comfortable and secure retirement is what everyone strives for as we transition from the workforce into retirement. The General Pension Plan can assist you with these goals by offering a lifetime benefit with annual cost-of-living provisions.

As a participant, you contribute 2% of your gross pension earnings. In addition to your 2% contributions, the City of Chattanooga contributes a variable percentage of your earnings as needed to maintain the actuarial soundness of the pension plan. The City's contribution varies from year to year based upon the recommendations of the Plan's actuary and the General Pension Plan Board of Trustees. In retirement, you will receive so much more through your monthly benefit than what you actually contributed.

The Trustees of the General Pension Plan provide for the growth of your contributions and the City's contributions while maintaining fiscal integrity through investment in the stock market, the bond market, and alternative investments such as real estate and investments in other countries utilizing the talents of actuaries, financial consultants and asset managers. 

The combination of your contributions, the City's contributions, and effective management of those assets by the Board of Trustees can provide a lifetime of retirement benefits for you. So ENJOY - retirement provides a new and exciting adventure.

Project your monthly retirement benefit under the Plan. 

Retirement calculator instructions:

1. Enter on the “Input” sheet personal data (dates of birth, highest three calendar year earnings, credited service, etc.)
2. The “Calculations” sheet lists the base projected retirement benefit under the Social Security offset (if applicable) and percentage formulas based on the data inputted
3. The “Options” sheet lists the projected optional benefits and the DROP amount(s), if applicable

For the retirement calculator, download the excel spreadsheet and select "Save Target As" to save it to your computer.

If you are a retiree and need to update your address or deductions from your pension benefit payment, use the appropriate form below:

If you are a plan participant not yet retired, use the forms below to manage your retirement benefits while you are still working or vested in the plan:

Completed forms should be returned to the City of Chattanooga using the following address:

2nd Floor City Hall
101 E. 11th Street 
Chattanooga, TN 37402

• U.S. Social Security Administration: Official site for benefits.
• Medicare: Government portal for Medicare.
• Internal Revenue Service: Tax forms, prep, and info.
• Chattanooga City Website: City services and news.
• Hamilton County: County resources and records.
• State of Tennessee: Government services and data.
• City Retiree Benefits: Sports Barn discount

Social Security Information:

• Understanding the Benefits
• How Work Affects Your Benefits
• Retirement Benefits

Other Helpful Information:

• Volunteer Opportunities in Chattanooga
• Notice to Interested Parties - General Pension Plan

The City of Chattanooga has combined our historical emphasis on a competitive benefits plan with new features to meet the needs of today's workforce. We strive to offer our employees the best health plan we can afford. 

We have:

• A generous defined benefit pension plan that avoids the risks inherent in most companies' 401(k) plans 
• A flexible paid time off (PTO) program that can be used as needed for health, family or personal reasons, banked for later use or paid off on leaving the City 
• An employee wellness plan that offers a free clinic, a free employee fitness center, classes and wellness programs, and incentives to those who live a healthy lifestyle 
• Free term life insurance and an accidental death or dismemberment policy
• Other benefits such as tuition reimbursement, flexible spending accounts, an employee assistance program, and more

For further information on employee benefits, contact the Benefits Office:

• Call: (423) 643-7220
• Access: https://www.mychattanoogabenefits.com/ 

Visit: City Hall Annex, 100 East 11th Street, Suite 301
8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. 

Regular Full-Time Employees are eligible for coverage on the first day of the month following date of hire.

The City of Chattanooga has contracted with Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Tennessee to provide two options for health insurance:

• Traditional Preferred Provider Organization (PPO) plan
• High Deductible Health Plan with a Health Savings Account (HDHP/HSA). 

Both of these plans have two network options; Network P offers a larger provider group and Network S offers a limited number of providers at a reduced premium.

Complementing the health care coverage options, the City also offers two optional Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs): 

• Dependent care
• Healthcare spending
   

FSA options enable employees to set aside and spend pre-tax dollars for qualified medical expenses like co-pays, deductibles and coinsurance as well as dependent care.  

For further information on employee benefits, contact the Benefits Office:

• Call: (423) 643-7220
• Access: https://www.mychattanoogabenefits.com/ 

Visit: City Hall Annex, 100 East 11th Street, Suite 301
8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. 

PTO combines vacation and sick leave into one leave bank.  It allows City Employees flexibility in taking time off for vacations, family needs, illness, and any other reason you need to be away from work. Eligible employees will earn PTO every biweekly pay period, and, with advance or in case of emergency, leave earned may be taken in increments as little as 15-minutes.  

In addition, PTO has the following features:

• Employees may carry over up to ten (10) days each year until they reach PTO maximum of 100 days.
• PTO balance are paid when employees are paid 

The City offers twelve (12) paid holidays and those holidays are:

1.  New Year's Day
2.  Martin Luther King Jr's Birthday
3.  Good Friday
4.  Memorial Day
5.  Juneteenth Day 
6.  Independence Day
7.  Labor Day
8.  Veteran's Day
9.  Thanksgiving Day
10.  Friday after Thanksgiving
11.  Christmas Eve
12.  Christmas Day

Who hasn't dreamed of a fulfilling retirement, with time for travel, time with family, or perhaps a second career?  The City of Chattanooga offers a way to achieve those goals -- through participating in one of two pension plans.  The City also offers a variety of other investment options for supplemental savings, with a tax-free IRA account, a ROTH IRA savings account or a deferred compensation plan (457).  These plans enable employees to see their retirement dreams come true.

Compare our retirement plans for yourself.  We think we offer unparalleled financial security in retirement.

• Chattanooga Fire & Police Pension Fund
• General Pension Plan

The City of Chattanooga offers to all employees a deferred compensation plan through Empower, Nationwide, Voya, and Mission Square, national investment and insurance companies specializing in deferred compensation plans for governments (also known as 457 plans). The following are some of their features:

Comprehensive participant services include:

• On-site enrollment meetings
• Individual retirement education sessions with a local/regional representative
• Educational materials for participants at all stages of the retirement planning
• Quarterly Statements of Account and informative newsletters
• Toll-free customer service number with transactional capability

Important program features include:

• A wide variety of investment choices, professionally managed by some of the best-known money managers in the industry, and spanning the risk/reward spectrum
• Multiple investment platforms to choose from
• Full service and investment only alternatives
• Competitive General (Declared Rate) Account rates
• A variety of annuity payout options

For further information about deferred compensation plan, contact Lindsay Lacy:

• Call (423) 643-7382 
• Email: llacy@chattanooga.gov