Updated October 30, 2026. Quick answer: For Group A members of the Vermont Municipal Employees’ Retirement System (VMERS), the Treasurer’s plan page sets normal retirement at age 65 with 5 years of creditable service, or as early as age 55 with 35 years. Group B is age 62 with 5 years, and Groups C and D are age 55 with 5 years. Vesting takes 5 years of creditable service. The Treasurer’s page and the statute describe the early retirement reduction differently, and this page shows both.
Normal retirement by group
Group A: “age 65 and the completion of 5 years of creditable service; or as early as age 55 and the completion of 35 years of service.” Group B: “age 62 and the completion of 5 years of creditable service; or as early as age 55 and the completion of 30 years of creditable service.” Groups C and D: “age 55 and the completion of 5 years of creditable service.”
Early retirement
“Members in Group A and B may retire as early as age 55 if they have a minimum of 5 years of creditable service.” For Group D the statute adds that the early retirement allowance is the normal retirement allowance at age 55 for Group D service with no reduction, with penalties applied to any Group A, B or C service, and the comparison table lists a special 3% a year factor only for municipal police officers who have attained age 60. For Group B the page lists “age 55 and the completion of 5 years of creditable service.” It marks Group C as N/A for early retirement. For Group D it lists “age 50 with the completion of 20 years of creditable service.” The page states the reduction as follows: “The reduction of their basic earned benefit for early retirement is 1/2% or .005 per month for every month (6% per year) under normal retirement age for the group you are retiring from.”
What the statute adds
The statute says a member “who has completed five years of creditable service, at least two and one-half of which have been as a contributor subsequent to joining the System, and who has attained age 55 may retire on an early retirement allowance.” It prices the early years in steps: the allowance is “reduced by one-half of one percent for each of the first 120 months, one-sixth of one percent for each of the next 120 months, one-eighteenth of one percent for each of the next 120 months,” “and one-fifty-fourth of one percent for each additional month that the member is under the normal age at the time of early retirement.”
Vesting
“You will be vested in the VMERS upon the attainment of five (5) years of creditable service.”
What the pension is based on
The statute sets the Group A formula as: “a Group A member shall receive a normal retirement allowance that shall be equal to one and four-tenths percent of his or her average final compensation multiplied by the number of years of creditable service as a Group A member”. For Group B service it adds “plus one and seven-tenths percent of his or her average final compensation multiplied by the number of years of creditable service as a Group B member, up to a maximum of 60 percent of average final compensation”. For Group C service it adds the following, which the statute applies to a Group C member who retires before July 1, 1995; for later retirees the statute instead adds the early retirement allowance earned in Group A and Group B (with its reductions) to the normal allowance earned in Group C or D, up to a maximum of 50 percent: “plus two and one-half percent of his or her average final compensation multiplied by the number of years of creditable service as a member of Group C, up to a maximum of 50 percent of average final compensation”. Average pay: “Your AFC is the average of your five (5) highest consecutive years of earnings for Group A members, three (3) highest consecutive years of earnings forGroups B and C, and two (2) highest consecutive years of earnings for Group D.”
What the documents do not say
The Treasurer’s page and the statute (24 V.S.A. section 5055(d)) describe the early retirement reduction differently: 6% a year in the handbook text, a graduated schedule in the statute. This page quotes both and does not reconcile them. The statute’s early retirement subsection does not itself exclude Group C, while the Treasurer’s page lists Group C early retirement as not applicable. The Group D multiplier appears only in a comparison table, so this page states none. The statute limits Group D early retirement to municipal public safety officers, which the Treasurer’s line does not say. The Treasurer’s page is undated, and the statute section’s history note ends in 2009. A search of the statute, the Treasurer’s page and the Treasurer’s group comparison table found no rule of 80, 85 or 90. Disability, death benefits, cost-of-living adjustments and service purchase are not covered.
Common mistakes
- Using one retirement age for every group. Group A, B, C and D each have their own.
- Reading the Treasurer’s 6% a year as the only reduction rule. The statute prints a graduated schedule that steps down after the first 120 months.
- Forgetting the statute’s contributor condition. At least two and one-half of the five years must have been as a contributor.
Related: Vermont VMERS retirement decisions, the Vermont VMERS COLA for 2027, how public pension decisions work, and whether Vermont taxes pensions.
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Answer againSources
- Vermont State Treasurer’s Office, VMERS Group Plans (member handbook text): www.vermonttreasurer.gov
- Vermont General Assembly, 24 V.S.A. Chapter 125, Municipal Employees’ Retirement System of Vermont: legislature.vermont.gov
- Related official page (not quoted): IRS Tax Topic 410, Pensions and annuities: www.irs.gov
- Related official page (not quoted): IRS Tax Topic 411, Pensions: the General Rule and the Simplified Method: www.irs.gov
Read from the primary documents linked above on October 30, 2026. General information, not tax advice. Your own facts decide the outcome, and a preparer or the IRS itself is the right place to confirm anything consequential.