City of Thornton / Retirement Plan

A regular employee shall be considered eligible for retirement from the City at the completion of 20 continuous years of service, at age 62 with at least 10 years of service, or if qualified for normal or disability retirement in accordance with the provisions of the applicable general employee, police, or fire pension plan. Any employee who terminates under this section may immediately continue to participate in the City’s health plan, subject to any limitation in the plan, providing that the employee pays the entire cost of each premium, in advance, upon becoming due and payable.

The City and employees make contributions to FICA (Social Security/Medicare). Additionally, the City and employees each make a pre-tax contribution of 7.6% and 6.5%, respectively, of salary to the City’s Nationwide Pension Plan (401 plan). In addition, the City will match 1:1 of an employee’s voluntary (pre-tax) contributions to the City’s Nationwide Deferred Compensation Plan (457 plan) up to a maximum of an additional 1%. The 401 is mandatory and the 457 is voluntary. Matching contributions will be deposited into the Employee’s 401(a) and are subject to the following 5-year vesting schedule.

Employees earn ownership in the city of Thornton’s contributions to their retirement plan account in accordance with the following vesting schedule:

1 year of service = 20% vested
2 years of service = 40% vested
3 years of service = 60% vested
4 years of service = 80% vested
5 years of service = 100% vested

In lieu of Social Security, the City and employees each make contributions to a Police Pension Plan. New employee contributions are 12% of eligible compensation, employer contributions are 10.5% of the eligible compensation. For those who were hired after March 31, 1986, additional contributions will be made by the City toward the Medicare portion of FICA withholding. In addition, the City will match 1:1 of an employee’s voluntary (pre-tax) contributions to the City’s Nationwide Deferred Compensation Plan (457 plan) up to a maximum of an additional 1%. Matching contributions will be deposited to the Employee’s 457 plan which is immediately vested.

In lieu of Social Security, the City and employees each make contributions to a Fire Pension Plan. New employee contributions are 12% of eligible compensation, employer contributions are 10.5% of the eligible compensation. For those who were hired after March 31, 1986, additional contributions will be made by the City toward the Medicare portion of FICA withholding. Refer to CBA for any additional deferred compensation (457) options.

The Retiree Health Savings (RHS) Plan is a City-sponsored health benefit savings vehicle that allows employees to accumulate assets to pay for medical expenses for themselves and their spouse, domestic partner, or dependents at separation from service or age 50 on a tax-free basis.

Upon the completion of the employee’s fifth year of continuous regular employment, the employee becomes eligible to receive the annual Employer contribution, which is subject to change and approved by the City Council each year. Other allowable contributions to the Plan are forfeitures of vacation over 300 hours (450 hours for a 56-hour week) at the end of the year, a maximum of 40 hours, and a floating holiday can also go into the account, if not used. Participation in the RHS Plan will be mandatory for all non-union Regular full-time employees. Police and Fire Union should refer to the CBA.

This information is designed to help you choose a benefit plan for 2025 only. Please refer to the Plan Documents provided by the carrier for information regarding coverage, limitations, and exclusions. If there is a difference between this guide and the Plan Documents, the Plan Documents prevail.