NCRGEA is inviting all members and pre-retirees of state and local government to attend our Spring Conference in District 1, Hendersonville NC.
~ Space is limited ~
Please register by Wednesday, April 5, 2023.
Location:
Blue Ridge Community College
Blue Ridge Conference Hall
48 East Campus Drive
Flat Rock, NC 28731
Registration online at www.tinyurl.com/5d83xf3c or call at 919-834-4652!
Betsy Barton of Transitions LifeCare, partner of NCRGEA, will present the basics of advance directives. All members in District 8 are invited to register!
NCRGEA is inviting all retired public servants, both state and local, to join us for refreshments and a discussion of issues that affect public servant retirees of North Carolina.
We’ll talk about current legislative issues, retiree issues, and retirement benefits available to all public service retirees. We’ll also give away a $25 gift card.
This is a great opportunity to meet and speak with other retirees who share the same concerns you have and to talk to Josephine, Director of Insurance Services at NCRGEA with your questions.
Location:
New Hanover County Senior Resource Center | 2222 S. College Road | Wilmington, NC 28403
Interested in attending? Call 919-834-4652 or email josephine@ncrgea.com.
NCRGEA is inviting all retired public servants, both state and local, to join us for refreshments and a discussion of issues that affect public servant retirees of North Carolina.
We’ll talk about current legislative issues, retiree issues, and retirement benefits available to all public service retirees. We’ll also give away a $25 gift card.
This is a great opportunity to meet and speak with other retirees who share the same concerns you have and to talk to Josephine, Director of Insurance Services at NCRGEA with your questions.
Location:
Macon County Parks and Rec | 1288 Georgia Road | Franklin, NC 28734
Interested in attending? Call 919-834-4652 or email josephine@ncrgea.com.
NCRGEA is inviting all retired public servants, both state and local, to join us for refreshments and a discussion of issues that affect public servant retirees of North Carolina.
We’ll talk about current legislative issues, retiree issues, and retirement benefits available to all public service retirees. We’ll also give away a $25 gift card.
This is a great opportunity to meet and speak with other retirees who share the same concerns you have and to talk to Josephine, Director of Insurance Services at NCRGEA with your questions.
Location:
West New Bern Recreation Center | 1225 Pinetree Drive | New Bern, NC 28562
Interested in attending? Call 919-834-4652 or email josephine@ncrgea.com.
NCRGEA is inviting all retired public servants, both state and local, to join us for refreshments and a discussion of issues that affect public servant retirees of North Carolina.
We’ll talk about current legislative issues, retiree issues, and retirement benefits available to all public service retirees. We’ll also give away a $25 gift card.
This is a great opportunity to meet and speak with other retirees who share the same concerns you have and to talk to Josephine, Director of Insurance Services at NCRGEA with your questions.
Location:
Harrison Center for Active Aging | 611 West Noble Street | Selma, NC 27576
Interested in attending? Call 919-834-4652 or email josephine@ncrgea.com.
Betsy Barton of Transitions LifeCare, partner of NCRGEA, will present the basics of advance directives. All members in District 3 are invited to register!
Come join NCRGEA as we celebrate Meals on Wheels during Community Champion Week 2023!
Meals on Wheels has claimed the month of March as its time to join forces to strengthen the impact of its efforts and rally communities to increase awareness for Meals and Wheels and recruit the support needed to meet rising demand.
Our members have asked to do much more in the community! We hope you will join with Meals on Wheels for one or multiple shifts ~ you decide!
There are volunteer opportunities for the week of March 20-24. Click here to volunteer with local MOW groups who are joining our efforts and follow their guidelines for registration. Not all MOW have signed up, but feel free to volunteer at a MOW near you if your community is not showing on this list.
We will mail Volunteer T-shirts to the first 250 volunteers ~ fill out your NCRGEA Interest Form soon!
Any questions, please contact NCRGEA Community Liaison, Deryl Davis Fulmer at deryl@ncrgea.com.
Sherry Gerald Beck is the winner of the January 2022 Trivia game. She lives in Lexington, NC, located in District 3. Sherry is married to David Beck and has two grown children, a daughter and son-in-law and 2 grandchildren.
Sherry retired in 2013 from South Davidson Middle School where she served as assistant principal. She likes the fact that NCRGEA keeps retirees up to date on the legislature, promoting and protecting our benefits and the great work of our lobbyists.
Sherry stated that the best thing about retirement is staying active. She and her husband are members of the Thomasville Senior Club and participate in several groups who entertain at Senior Centers. She was crowned Ms. Senior Davidson County in 2016. She performs with the “Sassyfrazz” and “Seniors Spreading Sunshine” that perform for seniors throughout many counties. She is learning to clog, belly dance, sing, backup dance and how to play the ukulele.
Sherry’s advice to everyone regarding COVID is to treat this with seriousness. She further advised that we should all go out and be active wherever possible while following CDC guidelines. She said, “Life should continue and not stand still!”
Sherry stated, “I am so excited about being the winner of the trivia game. Everyone should complete trivia for a chance to win. I am pleased to be a member of NCRGEA and have people concerned about my welfare.” Congratulations Sherry Beck!!
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North Carolina’s local government retirees will receive a long overdue boost in their annual pensions. In late January the Local Governmental Employees’ Retirement Board, which governs the state’s local government pension system, approved an across-the-board 2 percent bonus for local government retirees.
There are more than 77,000 local government retirees in North Carolina who will receive the bonus in October 2022, as pursuant to state law. While local government retirees will receive their bonus, more than 234,000 state government retirees received a similar 2 percent bonus in their December 2021 checks, with another 3 percent bonus also coming in October 2022.
North Carolina Retired Governmental Employees’ Association (NCRGEA) represents both state and local government retirees and worked with state legislators, the State Treasurer, Governor’s office and both local and state retirement system boards to help insure that retired public servants would see a pension boost. NCRGEA Board of Directors President Vann Langston said he hopes the treasurer’s support of the 2022 bonus is only the beginning of future efforts to abate lost pension values for both local and state retirees.
“Retired public servants have suffered long enough,” Langston said. “Local government retirees have suffered the most, being overlooked for nearly a decade. Our association would like to see this as the beginning to restore retiree pension values to maintain quality of life,” Langston explained.
Normally, the local government pension system will only provide a cost-of-living adjustment through additional contributions from local governments. Langston explained that NCRGEA worked with the treasurer and retirement system trustees to have the $59 million bonus provided by investment returns rather than increased contributions by local governments.
“This bonus will be provided without placing additional hardships on our local governments,” Langston pointed out.
Historically, the state provided annual cost of living adjustments for both state and local retirees. However, as the Great Recession of 2009 crippled investment returns and lawmakers scrambled to cover the state’s bottom line, cost of living adjustments became few and far between. A decade’s long shift has occurred since, where lawmakers and other decision makers are now more inclined to provide one-time bonuses rather than recurring adjustments.
NCRGEA, with over 66,000 members, is the largest governmental retiree association in the United States. There are over 320,000 state and local government retirees and NCRGEA works for all of them.
Langston noted it was a team effort to help NCRGEA secure the bonus for local government retirees. He also pointed to efforts by the North Carolina League of Municipalities and the North Carolina City and County Management Association as key to successfully securing the bonus.
North Carolina State Treasurer Dale Folwell said the state must take a long view to make sure government retirees will have healthy retirement benefits for future generations.
“We are blessed to have had sufficient market returns to provide this benefit increase to our local retirees, in a fiscally responsible manner,” Folwell said. “Our job is to keep the retirement system solvent for this and the next generation of those who teach, protect, and serve.”
Stay tuned!
Vann Langston
NCRGEA Board Director
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