(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)