(a) For purposes of this Plan, the masculine shall be read for the feminine, and the singular shall be read for the plural, wherever the person or context shall plainly so require.
(b) The following words and phrases, as used in this Plan, shall have the meanings set forth in this subsection, unless a different meaning is otherwise clearly required by the context:
(1) "Accrued benefit" means, as of any given date, the benefit determined under Section 294.04(b), calculated on the basis of final monthly average salary as of the date of determination and multiplied by a fraction, the numerator of which shall be the participant's aggregate service determined as of such date and the denominator of which shall be the projected aggregate service of the participant as if the participant continues in employment until attainment of normal retirement age. Notwithstanding anything contained herein to the contrary, in no event shall the fraction exceed one. The accrued benefit shall include any service increment determined pursuant to Section 294.04(d) attributable to the participant's aggregate service as of the determination date.
In no event, however, shall the accrued benefit exceed the maximum limitation, determined as of the date of computation, provided under Section 294.04(g). All accrued benefits are subject to all applicable limitations, reductions, offsets and actuarial adjustments provided pursuant to the terms of this Plan prior to the actual payment thereof.
(2) "Accumulated contributions" means the total amount contributed by any participant to this Fund or its predecessor by way of payroll deduction or otherwise, plus interest credited at three and one-half percent per annum. Interest shall be credited, in the form of a simple interest rate, from the midpoint of the Plan year during which the contributions were paid to the first day of the month preceding the date that a distribution of accumulated contributions under Sections 294.06(c) and 294.07(b) shall be paid or payment of benefits shall commence. Solely for the purpose of making a distribution of accumulated contribution under Section 294.06(c), interest shall be credited at six percent per annum.
(3) "Act" means the Municipal Pension Plan Funding Standard and Recovery Act, which was enacted as Act 205 of 1984, as amended, 53 P.S. 895.101 et seq.
(4) "Actuarial equivalent" means two forms of payment of equal actuarial present value on a specified date. The actuarial present value shall be determined by use of the UP-1984 Mortality Table and seven percent interest, unless otherwise specifically provided herein.
(5) "Actuary" means the person, partnership, association or corporation which, at any given time, is serving as actuary, provided that such actuary must be an "approved actuary," as defined in the Act.
(6) "Aggregate service" means the total period or periods of the participant's employment with the employer, whether or not interrupted. Notwithstanding the preceding sentence, should any such participant receive a distribution of accumulated contributions which must be maintained in the Plan with respect to a period of employment, such period of employment shall not be included in aggregate service thereafter unless, at the commencement of the next period of employment, the participant repays to the Fund the amount of such distribution, with interest. For purposes of this paragraph, interest shall accrue as of the date the employee receives a distribution of accumulated contributions and shall be computed at the same rate and in the same manner as described in paragraph (b)(2) hereof.
(7) "Beneficiary" means the person or other entity designated by the participant to receive a distribution of the participant's accumulated contributions should the participant die prior to becoming entitled to a retirement benefit. If a participant does not designate a beneficiary or the beneficiary does not survive the participant, the beneficiary shall be the surviving spouse, or if there is no surviving spouse, the issue, per stirpes, or if there is no surviving issue, the estate, but if no personal representative has been appointed, the beneficiary shall be those persons who would be entitled to the estate under the intestacy laws of the Commonwealth if the participant had died intestate and a resident of the Commonwealth.
(8) "Board" means the Police Pension Board, as determined pursuant to Section 294.08(b).
(9) "Chief Administrative Officer" means the person, designated by the Borough, who has the primary responsibility for the execution of the administrative affairs for the Plan.
(10) "Code" means the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended.
(11) "Commonwealth" means the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
(12) "Compensation" means the total remuneration of the employee, whether salary or hourly wages, including overtime pay, holiday pay, longevity pay and any other form of remuneration, excluding the uniform allowance paid by the employer for police services rendered. Compensation shall be limited on an annual basis, for purposes of the Plan, to the amount specified pursuant to Code Section 401(a)(17), as adjusted under Code Section 415(d), which amount shall be two hundred twenty-eight thousand, eight hundred sixty dollars ($228,860) as of the restatement date.
(13) "Council" means the Council of the Borough.
(14) “Deferred Retirement Option Plan (DROP Account)” means an individual account opened by the member and employer with joint ownership until ownership is transferred upon separation of employment to the employee alone, created to accept DROP participants’ monthly pension check while a DROP participant.
(15) "Disability date" means the date when a participant is determined by the Plan Administrator to be incapacitated due to total and permanent disability, or the date when the participant's employment terminates due to such total and permanent disability, if later.
(16) "Employee" means any individual employed by the employer on a regular, full-time basis as a member of the employer's police force.
(17) "Employer" means the Borough.
(18) "Employment" means, for the purpose of determining aggregate service:
A. The period of time for which an employee is directly or indirectly compensated or entitled to compensation by the employer for the performance of duties as a police officer;
B. Any period of time for which an employee is paid a fixed, periodic, amount, in the nature of salary continuation payments, for reasons other than the performance of duties (such as vacation, holidays, sickness, entitlement to benefits under workers' compensation or similar laws), either directly by the employer or through a program to which the employer has made contributions on behalf of the employee;
C. Any period during which an employee is entitled to disability benefits under this Plan, provided that the employee returns to employment within three months of the date on which it is determined that the employee is no longer totally and permanently disabled, if such determination occurs prior to the date a participant attains normal retirement age; and
D. Any period of voluntary or involuntary military service with the Armed Forces of the United States of America, provided that the participant has been employed as a regular, full-time member of the employer's police force for a period of at least six months immediately prior to the period of military service and that the participant returns to employment within six months following discharge from military service or within such longer period during which employment rights are guaranteed by applicable law or under the terms of a collective bargaining agreement with the employer.
(19) "Final monthly average salary" means:
A. The average monthly salary earned by the participant and paid by the employer during the final thirty-six months immediately preceding termination of active employment. Salary shall include payments made for unused vacation, earned vacation (calculated from employee's anniversary date to the date of retirement), unused personal days, longevity (based on years of service at the time of retirement), accumulated unused sick leave (in accordance with the maximum allowed under the police contract), holiday pay (based on the number of holidays beginning with January 1 of the current calendar year to the date of retirement at the rate of pay stated in the police contract).
B. Participants hired on or after January 1, 2013, the buyback of accumulated unused sick leave shall be restricted for pension computation purposes. In accordance with Act 600, only the buyback of sick days earned during the last thirty-six (36) months of employment shall count as compensation for purposes of calculating the officer’s monthly benefit. It is understood and agreed that any days used during the last thirty-six (36) months of employment shall be deemed to have first come from the officer’s sick leave bank (days earned before the thirty-six (36) month period) on a first-in first-out basis.
(20) "Insurer" or "insurance company" means a legal reserve life insurance company authorized to do business in the Commonwealth.
(21) "Minimum Municipal obligation" means the minimum obligation of the Municipality, as determined by the actuary pursuant to the provisions of the Act.
(22) "Normal retirement age" means the date on which the participant has completed twenty-five years of aggregate service with the employer and has attained age fifty. For those participants hired after September 19, 2018, “normal retirement age” shall mean the date on which the participant has completed twenty-five years of aggregate service with the employer and has attained age fifty-five.
(23) "Notice" means a written document prepared in the form specified by the Plan Administrator and delivered as follows: if such notice is to be provided by the employer or the Plan Administrator, it shall be mailed in a properly addressed envelope, postage prepaid, to the last known address of the person entitled thereto, on or before the last day of the specified notice period, or, if such notice is to be provided to the employer or the Plan Administrator, it must be received by the recipient on or before the last day of the specified notice period.
(24) "Participant" means an employee who has met the eligibility requirements to participate in the Plan, as provided in Section 294.02(a), and who has not for any reason ceased to be a participant hereunder.
(25) "Pension Fund" or "Fund" means the Police Pension Fund administered under the terms of this Plan, which shall include all money, property, investments, policies and contracts standing in the name of the Plan.
(26) "Plan" means the Plan set forth in this chapter, as amended from time to time, and designated as the Borough of Ellwood City Police Pension Plan.
(27) "Plan Administrator" means the Board or the individual appointed for the purpose of supervising and administering the provisions of the Plan. If no such appointment is made, the Plan Administrator shall be Council.
(28) "Plan year" means the twelve-month period beginning on January 1 and ending on December 31 of each year.
(29) "Policy" or "contract" means a retirement annuity or retirement income endowment policy (or a combination of both) or any other form of insurance contract or policy which shall be deemed appropriate in accordance with the provisions of applicable law.
(30) "Restatement date" means January 1, 1992, the date upon which this amendment and restatement of the Plan becomes effective.
(31) "Retirement date" means the first day of the month coincident with or next following the date on which the participant retires from employment, or the first day of any month thereafter on which the payment of retirement benefits pursuant to this Plan shall commence.
(32) "Service increment" means the amount calculated pursuant to Section 294.04(d) on behalf of a participant for each completed year of aggregate service accumulated in excess of twenty-five years.
(33) "Total and permanent disability" means a condition of physical or mental impairment due to which a participant is unable to perform the usual and customary duties of employment, which condition continues for at least six months and which is reasonably expected to continue to be permanent for the remainder of the participant's lifetime.
(Ord. 2137. Passed 3-15-93; Ord. 2410. Passed 4-16-07; Ord. 2454. Passed 9-20-10; Ord. 2511. Passed 6-16-15; Ord. 2552. Passed 11-19-18.)