How the Retired Allowances Screen Works

There are many things happening on the retired officer allowance screen. Below we try to provide helpful feedback on how the information is all working and being calculated.

Basic Information

The basic information section highlights the officer’s detailed information based on the expected retirement due date. The length of service listed to the right of the “Retirement Date” field represents the officer’s expected length of service at the date of retirement.

The “Retired Pay Start” field will be when the officer begins getting paid the retirement allowance. Changing this value doesn’t impact anything onscreen or on the retired allowance worksheet.

The “Default Calculation Basis” is the value OMS uses when determining what type of basic weekly allowance amount to use. Those that retired prior to 2017 and were married will show a shared married rate. Those that retire in 2017 and forward will all use an individual allowance amount, even if married.

The “Total Allowance Time” shows a length of service based on ALL service credits for the selected officer. The “Adjust” option next to it will open a dialog and allow users to select a new basic weekly allowance amount which when applied will add the shown service credits to the officer record.

The “Long Service Order” and “LSO Allowance” show the estimated long service award that will be added to the retired officer’s allowance. The LS award shown is based on the length of service at retirement (shown next to “Retirement Date”) and will not factor in retirement credits such as overseas credits.

Allowance Information

The allowance info section allows users to customize a variety of allowance options. In the rare case they are needed, these values can be manually updated and will be factored into the onscreen retired allowance amounts and the retired allowance worksheet.

If there is a value entered on the allowances screen for “Positional Allowance” it will automatically populate the “Positional 100%” field. The “Positional 100%” field can be edited or deleted without impacting the positional allowance amount on the other allowance screen.

The “Medicare Premium” has two options, a “Use Default” checkbox, or users can enter a custom amount. The medicare premium default is managed under the Settings>Retirement Options screen and can be different for each pay period.

The “Total Other Adjustments” line item allows users to enter a custom value and description for an individual officer. When saved they are listed under the “Adjustments” section further down on the screen. These are payments added to the monthly total.

A “Discretionary Grant” allows users to add a custom amount to an officer’s monthly retired allowance. When selected, it compares the officer’s retired allowance income to the grant ceiling amount (under Settings>Retirement Options) and allows users to add the difference as a grant amount.

Allowance Information Summary

The “Basic Weekly” amount is pulled based on the “Total Allowance Time” length of service from the table under Settings>Weekly Allowances. If the officer retires in 2017 or later they will receive the individual rate, even if married. This amount can be overridden with a custom rate if desired.

The “Extenuating Circumstances” option can be toggled on to award the officer their spouse’s retired allowance subtotal amount. Generally, this is used for a time after a spouse passes away and can be turned off and on manually at any time.

The “Factor” is the percent of the basic weekly allowance the officer will receive. It is based on the length of service and pulled from a table on the Settings>Retirement Options screen.

The “Pay Period” drop-down allows users to change the retired allowance numbers onscreen to reflect a different pay period.

Summary Calculations

Here are how the values in the allowance information summary are calculated:

• Subtotal = (Basic Weekly x Factor) + Differential Adjustment

• Total Weekly = Subtotal + Long Service + Domestic Allowances + Positional 100% + Widow/Widower’s Allowance

• Monthly Schedule = (Total Weekly + Extenuating Circumstances) x 4.333

• Adjusted Totals = Monthly Schedule + Social Security Equalized + Medicare Premium + Total Other Adjustments + DIscretionary Grant

Retired Officer Grants

The housing, furnishing, and automobile grant section allows users to see what officers are eligible to receive as one-time grants. It also will allow users to enter when grants have been awarded for each type.

The Furnishings Grant calculation:

Take the officer’s “Monthly Schedule” allowance x 24 x Percentage.

The Automobile Grant calculation:

Take the officer’s “Monthly Schedule” allowance x 10 x Percentage.

The Housing Grant calculation:

Begin by rounding up the total allowance time months served (meaning if an officer had a length of service of 35 Y, 4 M, 12 D the month would now be 5). Next, under Settings>Retirement Options, use the “Retired Scale Housing Allowance Percentage Adjustment” table, use the years served to find the amount to be awarded (35 Y in our example). Look at the monthly amount listed next to the approved year amount. Multiply the “monthly adjusted” amount by the number of months served (5 M in our example). Finally, add the lump “approved amount” to the new “monthly adjusted” result to get the total housing grant to award.

Example: Married Officer has a total allowance time of 35 Y, 4 M, 12 D.
The Married Approved Amount for 35 Y is $149,262.
The 12 days of service round-up to be 5 months of service. The Married Monthly Adjusted Amount for 35 Y is $280. So the total monthly amount is $280 x 5 months = $1,400.
The total housing grant for this couple would be $149,262 + $1,400 = $150,662 and each officer would get half, $75,331.

Adjustments

The adjustments section is linked to the “Total Other Adjustments” field under the allowance information section. The adjustments table details each adjustment that makes up the total adjustment amount. This is where users can add or remove adjustments and see the total amount awarded.