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In the event a firefighter member dies as a result of a personal injury or disease arising solely out of and in the course of his or her employment by the City, or a disability retirant dies within a period of three years from and after the date of his or her disability retirement and prior to his or her voluntary retirement age as the result of the same injury or disease for which he or she was retired, and in either case the death, injury or disease resulting in death be found by the Board of Trustees to have been the result of his or her actual performance of duty in the employ of the City, the applicable benefits provided in this section shall be paid; provided, that the pensions provided in subsections (b), (c), (d) and (e) of this section shall be subject to the condition that workers’ compensation is paid on account of the same member or retirant; and provided further, that the pensions shall be subject to subsection (f) of this section and § 35-33.
(a) In the case of a deceased member, his or her accumulated contributions standing to his or her credit in the employees’ savings fund shall be paid in accordance with the provisions of § 35-34.
(b) A pension of 40% of the deceased person’s final compensation shall be paid to his or her widow and shall terminate upon her remarriage or death.
(c) If, in addition to a widow, the deceased person leaves an unmarried child or children under the age of 18 years or age 21 years if a full-time student as determined by the Board of Trustees, each such child shall receive a pension of an equal share of one-fourth of his or her final compensation. Upon the child’s adoption, marriage, death or attainment of age 18 years, or age 21 years if a full-time student as determined by the Board of Trustees, whichever occurs first, his or her pension shall terminate and there shall be a redistribution by the Board of Trustees to his or her remaining eligible children under age 18 years, or 21 years, as the case may be, if any.
(d) If the deceased person does not leave a widow, or if his or her widow remarries before the youngest surviving unmarried child shall have attained age 18 years or age 21 years if a full-time student as determined by the Board of Trustees, his or her unmarried child or children under age 18 years, or 21 years, as the case may be, shall each receive a pension of one-fourth of his or her final compensation; provided, that if there be more than two such surviving children, each such child shall receive a pension of an equal share of one-half of his or her final compensation. Upon the child’s adoption, marriage, death or attainment of age 18 years, or 21 years if a full-time student as determined by the Board of Trustees, whichever occurs first, his or her pension shall terminate and there shall be a redistribution by the Board of Trustees to his or her remaining eligible children under age 18 years, or 21 years, as the case may be, if any. In no case shall the child’s pension exceed one-fourth of the deceased person’s final compensation.
(e) If there be neither widow nor children eligible to receive a pension provided in this section surviving the deceased person there shall be paid to his or her dependent mother and dependent father, as the Board of Trustees after investigation shall find to have been actually dependent upon him or her for financial support due to physical or mental disability, a pension of one-sixth of his or her final compensation. Upon the remarriage or death of any such parent his or her pension shall terminate.
(f) The total of the pensions provided in subsections (b), (c) and (d) of this section payable to the survivors of the deceased person shall not exceed $7,000.00 a year. As used in this section, the term
WIDOW means the spouse of the person at the time his or her employment with the City last terminated.
(Ord. 2314, passed 3-13-1972; Ord. 2558, passed 6-14-1976)
Any workers’ compensation which may be paid or payable to a member, retirant or beneficiary, on account of the death of a member or a retirant, or on account of the disability retirement of a police officer member as provided in § 35-27, shall be offset against any pensions payable by the retirement system on account of the death or disability. Effective July 1, 1975, there shall be no workers’ compensation offset against pension benefits payable to the beneficiaries of a firefighter member because of the death of the member as a result of an injury or illness arising out of and in the course of his or her employment.
(Ord. 1860, passed 8-16-1965; Ord. 2206, passed 4-13-1970; Ord. 2558, passed 6-14-1976)
(a) If a member ceases to be an employee of the City before he or she has satisfied the age and service requirements for retirement provided in § 35-21, he or she shall be paid his or her accumulated contributions standing to his or her credit in the employee savings fund upon his or her demand in writing on a form furnished by the Board of Trustees.
(b) Upon the death of a member and no pension, except as provided in § 35-32, becomes or will become payable on account of his or her death, his or her accumulated contributions standing to his or her credit in the employee savings fund at the time of his or her death shall be paid to such person as he or she shall have nominated by written designation duly executed and filed with the Board of Trustees. If there is no such person surviving the member, his or her accumulated contributions shall be paid to his or her legal representative.
(c) Payment of refunds of accumulated contributions may be made in installments according to such regulations as the Board of Trustees may from time to time adopt.
(Ord. 1860, passed 8-16-1965)
(a) This section applies to distributions made on or after January 1, 1993. Notwithstanding any provision of the retirement ordinance to the contrary that would limit a distributee’s election under this subsection, a distributee may elect, at the time and in the manner prescribed by the Board of Trustees, to have any portion of an eligible rollover distribution paid directly, as a direct rollover, to an eligible retirement plan specified by the distributee. The following definitions shall apply with regard to this subsection.
(1) ELIGIBLE ROLLOVER DISTRIBUTION. An ELIGIBLE ROLLOVER DISTRIBUTION is any distribution of all or a portion of the balance to the credit of the distributee, except an eligible rollover distribution does not include: (i) any distribution that is one of a series of substantially equal periodic payments not less frequently than annually made for the life (or life expectancy) of the distributee or the joint lives (or joint life expectancies) of the distributee and the distributee’s designated beneficiary, or for a specified period of ten years or more; and (ii) any distribution to the extent the distribution is required under Internal Revenue Code § 401(a)(9) for purposes of the direct rollover provision, a portion of a distribution shall not fail to be an eligible rollover distribution merely because the portion consists of after-tax employee contributions which are not includable in gross income. However, such portion may be paid only to an individual retirement account or annuity described in IRC § 408(a) or (b), or to a qualified plan described in §§ 401(a) or 403(b) of the IRC, that agrees to separately account for amounts so transferred, including separately accounting for the portion of such distribution which is includable in gross income and the portion of such distribution which is not so includable.
(2) ELIGIBLE RETIREMENT PLAN. An ELIGIBLE RETIREMENT PLAN means as follows: (1) an individual retirement account described in IRC § 408(A); (2) an individual retirement annuity described in IRC § 408(B); (3) an annuity plan described in IRC § 403(a); (4) effective January 1, 2002, an annuity contract described in IRC § 403(B); (5) effective January 1, 2002, an eligible plan under IRC § 457 which is maintained by a state or political subdivision of a state or any agency or instrumentality of a state or political subdivision of a state and which agrees to separately account for amounts transferred into such plan from this retirement system; (6) a qualified trust described in IRC § 401(a) that accepts eligible rollover distributions; or (7) effective January 1, 2008, a Roth IRA, subject to the requirements of IRC § 408A(c)(3).
(3) DISTRIBUTEE. A DISTRIBUTEE includes an employee or former employee. In addition, the employee’s or former employee’s surviving spouse or former spouse who is an alternate payee under a domestic relations order is a distributee with regard to the interest of the surviving spouse. Effective July 1, 2010, the non-spouse beneficiary of a member or former member also may be a distributee with regard to the interest of the non-spouse beneficiary that is directly transferred to an individual retirement account described in IRC § 408(a) or an individual retirement annuity described in IRC § 408(b).
(4) DIRECT ROLLOVER. A DIRECT ROLLOVER is a payment by the retirement system to the eligible retirement plan specified by the distributee.
(b) The retirement system will accept an eligible rollover distribution for the purchase of credited service, and for the repayment of previously withdrawn accumulated contributions. Upon receipt of sufficient documentation that the plan from which a distribution is to occur is qualified in accordance with applicable IRC provisions, the retirement system will accept a rollover distribution from the following:
(1) An individual retirement account or annuity described in IRC § 408(a) or 408(b) that is eligible to be rolled over and would otherwise be includable in gross income;
(2) A qualified plan described in IRC §§ 401(a) or 403(a), including after-tax employee contributions;
(3) An annuity contract described in IRC § 403(b), excluding after-tax employee contributions; and
(4) An eligible plan under IRC § 457(b) which is maintained by a State, political subdivision of a State, or any agency or instrumentality of a State or political subdivision of a state. The retirement system shall provide a separate accounting for any after-tax contributions received and earnings thereon.
(Ord. 3318, passed 1-8-1996; Ord. 3590, passed 6-24-2004; Ord. 3816, passed 2-16-2012)
(a) The employee savings fund shall be the fund in which shall be accumulated, at regular interest, the contributions deducted from the compensation of members and from which shall be made refunds and transfers of accumulated contributions as provided in the retirement plan.
(b) (1) From and after December 31, 1986, the member’s contribution to the retirement system shall be:
a. For a police officer member, 6% of the compensation paid him or her by the City;
b. For a firefighter member, 5% of the compensation paid him or her by the City up to and including December 23, 1972, and 6.5% of the compensation paid him or her by the City from and after December 24, 1972; and
c. For general members, the sum of 3% of the first $4,200.00 of his or her annual compensation plus 5% of the portion, if any, of annual compensation which is in excess of $4,200.00.
(2) Effective July 1, 1978 as to general members represented by Local 1600, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, AFL-CIO, 6.25% of the compensation paid to him or her by the City, and as to general members represented by Local 1799, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, AFL-CIO, 6.5% of the compensation paid him or her by the City.
(3) Effective March 4, 1979, for general members allocated to level 22B and below, not represented by recognized bargaining units and not employed by the Board of Hospital Managers, 6.5% of the compensation paid him or her by the City.
(4) Effective at the beginning of the first payroll period following adoption of this amendment, the member’s contribution to the retirement system shall be:
a. For general members appointed by the City Council, general members appointed by the Mayor pursuant to Sections 4-202 and 4-203 of the Charter, general members elected to the City Council, general members elected District Judges of the 68th Judicial District and general members allocated to level 23 and above, not employed by the Board of Hospital Managers and not represented by a recognized bargaining units, 6% of the compensation by him or her by the City; and
b. Effective March 4, 1979, 6.5% of the compensation paid him or her by the City.
(5) For general members represented by Local 1973, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, AFL-CIO, the sum of 3% of the first $4,200.00 of his or her annual compensation which is in excess of $4,200.00 on all earnings up to and including June 30, 1974, the sum of 4.25% of the first $4,200.00 of his or her annual compensation plus 6.25% of the portion if any, of annual compensation which is in excess of $4,200.00 on all earnings during the period July 1, 1974 through June 30, 1985, and the sum of 5.25% of the first $4,200.00 of his or her annual compensation plus 7.25% of the portion, if any, of annual compensation which is in excess of $4,200.00 on all earnings after July 1, 1975;
(6) For a general member not represented by a recognized bargaining unit and employed by the Board of Hospital Managers from and July 1, 1976, the sum of 3.3% of the first $4,200.00 on all earnings of his or her annual compensation plus 5.3% of the portion, if any, of annual compensation which is in excess of $4,200.00);
(7) For a general member represented by Local 825, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, AFL-CIO, from and after July 1, 1976, the sum of 5.25% of the first $4,200.00 of his or her annual compensation plus 7.25% of the portion, if any, of annual compensation which is in excess of $4,200.00.
(c) The officer or officers responsible for making up the payroll shall cause the applicable contributions provided in subsection (b) of this section to be deducted from the compensation of each member on each and every payroll, for each and every payroll period, so long as he or she continues a member of the retirement system. When deducted, the contributions shall be paid into the employee savings fund and shall be credited to the individual account of the member from whose compensation the contributions were deducted. Every member shall be deemed to consent and agree to the deductions made and provided for herein. Payment of this compensation less the deductions shall be a full and complete discharge and acquittance of all claims and demands whatsoever for the services rendered by the member during the period covered by the payment, except as to benefits provided by the retirement plan.
(d) In addition to the contributions deducted from the compensation of a member, as hereinbefore provided, a member shall deposit in the employee savings fund, by a single contribution or by an increased rate of contribution and approved by the Board of Trustees, the amount, if any, he or she previously withdrew from the employee savings fund, together with regular interest compounded annually from the date of withdrawal to the date of repayment. In no case shall any member be given credit for service rendered prior to the date he or she withdrew his or her accumulated contributions until he or she repays to the employee savings fund all amounts due the fund by him or her.
(e) Upon the retirement of a member, his or her accumulated contributions shall be transferred from the employee savings fund to the retirement reserve fund. At the expiration of a period of five years from the date an employee ceases to be a member, any balance standing to his or her credit in the employee savings fund shall be transferred to the pension reserve fund.
(f) Emoluments and rewards — police officers and firefighters. All rewards and proceeds of gifts from any source and all emoluments that may be allowed by the City Council on account of extraordinary service performed by police officers and firefighters, who are members, shall be paid into the City Treasury. This money shall be credited to the individual employee savings fund account of the member to whom emoluments or rewards are given and shall in other respects be treated as a contribution to the employee savings account of the member.
(g) (1) For classified employees not represented by bargaining units and not employed by the Board of Hospital Managers, effective July 1, 1986, employees included in the above group allocated to pay levels 22E and below shall have their individual employee contributions to the City’s retirement system reduced from the rate in effect on June 30, 1986 by 4% of the compensation paid by the City for the full 13 payroll periods following January 1, 1987; employees included in the above group and allocated to pay levels 23 and above, as well as appointive officers, shall have the option of having their individual employee contribution to the City’s retirement system reduced by 2% of the compensation paid by the City for the 13 full payroll periods following January 1, 1987, or reimbursement not to exceed 2% of an employee’s base wage in effect on July 1, 1986, towards purchase or computer equipment for personal use to include hardware and/or software. The purchase shall be made between July 1, 1986 and June 30, 1987, while employed by the City. Individuals not employed for the full fiscal year shall be reimbursed on a pro rata basis. Additionally, the employee shall agree that if he or she leaves the City’s employ before the end of the fiscal year, he or she will have deducted from his or her final pay an amount equal to one-twelfth of the reimbursement for each month or portion thereof lacking of the one full year.
(2) Further, for classified employees not represented for the purposes of collective bargaining and not employed by the Board of Hospital Managers the employees’ individual contribution to the City’s retirement system shall be 2% of the compensation paid to the employee in any given year.
(h) The City agrees to the institution of a pension “pick-up” plan for employees provided that the Internal Revenue Service approves such a pick-up; and provided further that the pick-up approved by the Internal Revenue Service will be limited solely to the employees not represented by a recognized bargaining group and employed by the Hurley Board of Managers, hereinafter known as exempts. If the Internal Revenue Service does not approve a pick-up limited solely to the exempt employees, the pick-up will not be applicable. The pick-up plan as set forth herein shall be instituted as follows:
(1) The employer shall pick up the employee contributions required of exempt employees for all compensation earned after the effective date of this provision. The contributions, so picked up, shall be treated as employer contributions in determining tax treatment under the United States Internal Revenue Code. Employee contributions picked up by the City, pursuant to this provision, shall be treated for all other purposes, in the same manner and to the same extent, as employee contributions made prior to the effective date of this provision.
(2) The effective date of this provision shall be the date of approval, implementation as soon as is practical. These employee contributions so picked up shall not be included in gross income for tax purposes until such time as they are distributed by refund or benefit payment.
(3) With respect to the plan amendment and the pick-up of employee pension contributions set forth above, it is expressly understood and agreed as follows:
a. The plan amendment is being adopted only for the purpose of allowing employees to take advantage of IRS Code provisions which permit government employees to tax shelter their pension plan contributions.
b. Salary before reduction for contribution will continue to serve as the basis for determining the amount of salary related fringe benefits, including retirement benefits.
c. The employer will maintain information which will permit identification of the amount of employee contributions made before and after the plan amendment. This is necessary in order to determine the extent to which a pension plan distribution is taxable income to the employee at the time the distribution is received.
d. The plan amendment is being accomplished by local agreement rather than a change in State law.
(4) It is the intention of this provision that the above described contributions be treated as picked up by the employer for purposes of Section 414(H)(2) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, in that the two criteria for the treatment are satisfied:
a. The employer hereby specifies that the above described contributions, although specified as employee contributions under the retirement system, are being paid by the employer to the retirement system in lieu of contributions by the exempt employee; and
b. The exempt employee does not have the option of choosing to receive the contributed amounts directly instead of having them paid by the City to the retirement system.
(5) It is the intention of the employer and the exempt employee group that each exempt employee may, pursuant to Section 414(H)(2) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, exclude from gross income, for federal income tax purposes, all of the contributions made by the employer to the retirement system and that the contributions shall not be includable in the exempt employee’s gross income until distributed or made available to the exempt employee.
(6) The effect of this provision is that each exempt employee’s compensation shall be reduced by the amount of the pension contribution which would otherwise be required of an exempt employee under the provisions of the retirement system and the employer will contribute this compensation reduction to the retirement system. The compensation reduction is to be considered a part of each exempt employee’s compensation for purposes of determining the contribution which would otherwise be required of an exempt employee under the provisions of the retirement system.
(Ord. 1860, passed 8-16-1965; Ord. 1920, passed 7-7-1966; Ord. 2206, passed 4-13-1970; Ord. 2370, passed 12-11-1972; Ord. 2496, passed 5-19-1975; Ord. 2583, passed 1-17-1977; Ord. 2628, passed 4-10-1978; Ord. 2699, passed 2-26-1979; Ord. 3024, passed 12-17-1986; Ord. 3038, passed 6-8-1987; Ord. 3059, passed 6-27-1988; Ord. 3101, passed 7-10-1989; Ord. 3133, passed 4-23-1990; Ord. 3223, passed 12-14-1992; Ord. 3273, passed 4-11-1994; Ord. 3304, passed 7-24-1995)
The retirement reserve fund shall be the fund from which shall be paid all pensions provided in the retirement plan. Should a disability retirant return to the employ of the City, his or her pension reserve at the date of his or her return shall be transferred from the retirement reserve fund to the employee savings fund and the pension reserve fund in the same proportion as his or her pension reserve was originally transferred from the funds to the retirement fund.
(Ord. 1860, passed 8-16-1965)
(a) The pension reserve fund is hereby created. It shall be the fund in which shall be accumulated reserves for the payment of all pensions payable from funds provided by the City. Upon the basis of such mortality and other experience tables, and regular interest as the Board of Trustees shall from time to time adopt, the Actuary shall annually compute the pension reserves:
(1) For pensions being paid retirants and beneficiaries; and
(2) Covering service rendered and to be rendered by members.
(b) The pension reserves shall be financed by annual appropriations, to be made by the City Council and Board of Hospital Managers, determined according to subsections (1), (2) and (3) of this subsection (b), subject to subsections (c) and (d) of this section.
(1) The appropriation for members’ current service shall be a percent of their annual compensations which will produce an amount which if paid annually by the City during their future service will be sufficient to provide the reserves, at the time of their retirements, for the portions of the pensions to be paid them based upon the future service.
(2) The appropriation for members’ accrued service shall be a percent of their annual compensations which will produce an amount which if paid annually by the City over a period of years, to be determined by the Board of Trustees, will amortize, at regular interest, the unfunded pension reserves for the accrued service portions of the pensions to which they may be entitled.
(3) The appropriation for pensions being paid retirants and beneficiaries shall be a percent of the annual compensations of members which will produce an amount which, if paid annually by the City over a period of years, to be determined by the Board of Trustees, will amortize, at regular interest, the unfunded pension reserves for pensions being paid retirants and beneficiaries.
(4) Each year following receipt of the report of the annual actuarial valuation, the balance in the retirement reserve fund shall be set equal to the actuarial present value of pensions being paid retirants and beneficiaries by a transfer to or from the pension reserve fund. The pending transfer shall be taken into account by the Actuary when making the actuarial valuation.
(c) The Board of Trustees shall report to the City Council, on or before June 30 of each year, the amount of contributions to be made by the City and Board of Hospital Managers. The City and Board of Hospital Managers shall respectively appropriate and pay the amounts of contributions out of available funds to the retirement system during the ensuing fiscal year.
(Ord. 1860, passed 8-16-1965; Ord. 2967, passed 8-26-1985; Ord. 3495, passed 5-28-2002; Ord. 3591, passed 6-24-2004; Ord. 3642, passed 4-11-2005)
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