(A) Bedford Borough Water Authority (the Authority), established a non-uniform defined benefit pension plan administered by the state’s Municipal Retirement System (the System) on or about July 1, 1966. The PERC number for the defined benefit plan of the Authority is 05-406-6 N1.
(B) On or about October 1, 2017, the Authority amended its pension plan by providing that all employees hired by the Authority on or after October 1, 2017 would be placed into a newly-created cash balance plan. The PERC number for the cash balance plan of the Authority is 05-406-6 N2.
(C) On or about April 30, 2018, the Authority and Bedford Borough (the borough) entered into a memorandum of understanding providing that the borough “will hire those Water Authority employees it deems appropriate and assume the pension and other unfunded obligations of the Water Authority to the extent required to release it from continued liability.”
(D) On or about October 1, 2018, the Authority legally dissolved. As a part of the dissolution, the Authority filed all necessary and legally-required paperwork with the Pennsylvania Department of State.
(E) On or about October 1, 2018, all active employees of the Authority became employees of the borough. All Authority employees, including deferred vested members and retirees, who were in the Authority’s defined benefit pension plan with PERC number 05-406-N1 will be transferred to the borough’s defined benefit pension plan with PERC number 05-003-3 N1 effective October 1, 2018. Any and all member and municipal accounts in the pension plan with PERC number 05-406-N1 will be transferred to the borough’s defined benefit plan with PERC number 05-003-3 N1 effective October 1, 2018. The borough expressly agrees to assume any financial responsibility for any benefits that were earned in pension plans 05-406-N1 and 05-406-6 N2. After said transfer, the Authority’s pension plans with PERC numbers 05-406-6 N1 and 05-406-6 N2 will be terminated effective October 2, 2018.
(F) As part of this section, the borough expressly agrees that it is legally and financially responsible for deferred vested employees and any retirees in the Authority’s pension plan with PERC numbers 05-406-6 N1 and 05-406-6 N2.
(G) As part of this section, the borough agrees that the system shall administer and provide the benefits set forth in the amended Non-Uniform Bedford Borough Pension Plan contracts entered into between the state’s Municipal Retirement Board and the borough effective October 1, 2018 (the contracts).
(H) The borough acknowledges that by passage and adoption of this section, it officially accepts the contracts and the financial obligations resulting from the administration of the contracts.
(I) (1) Payment for any obligation established by the adoption of this section and the contracts shall be made by the borough in accordance with the Retirement Law and the Municipal Pension Plan Funding Standard and Recovery Act.
(2) The borough hereby assumes all liability for any unfundedness created due to the benefit structure set forth in the contracts.
(Ord. 2019-03, passed 4-16-2019)