Skip to code content (skip section selection)
Compare to:
§ 2.5-3 CONTRIBUTIONS.
   (a)   Member contributions.
      (1)   Effective with the August 9, 2019 paycheck, and continuing until the date of actual retirement or earlier termination of employment, group I general members shall contribute to the fund 9.35% of their earnings. Additionally, effective with the August 9, 2019 paycheck, each individual group I general member shall contribute to the fund an additional 0.7% of earnings until the earliest of the following: 1) the member retires; 2) the member terminates employment; or 3) the member has made additional 0.7% contributions for a period of time that is equal to the amount of credited service the member earned or purchased prior to October 1, 2013.
      (2)   Effective with the August 9, 2019 paycheck and continuing until the date of actual retirement or earlier termination of employment, group II general members shall contribute to the fund 9.35% of their earnings.
      (3)   Effective with the August 9, 2019 paycheck, group III and group IV police members shall contribute 10.53% of their earnings to the fund; effective with the first paycheck on or after January 1, 2020, group III and group IV police members shall contribute 12.53% of their earnings to the fund; effective with the first paycheck on or after January 1, 2021 and continuing until date of actual retirement or earlier termination of employment, group III and group IV police members shall contribute 13.13% of their earnings to the fund.
      (4)   Effective with the August 9, 2019 paycheck, group V firefighters and group VI firefighters shall contribute 10.05% of their earnings to the fund; effective with the first paycheck on or after January 1, 2020 and continuing until date of actual retirement or earlier termination of employment, group V and group VI firefighters shall contribute 12.05% of their earnings to the fund.
      (5)   If, following a member's involuntary termination of employment, the city is required, as the direct result of an appeal or suit arising from the involuntary termination, to reinstate the member's employment, the member shall make the contribution described in this section on any payment made by the city to the member as back pay, less interim earnings, if any, with the city empowered to make such payment on the employee's behalf in accordance with § 2.5-3(b)(2).
      (6)   Contributions by members reinstated following a military leave of absence are governed by the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act, 38 U.S.C. §§ 4301-33, as provided for in § 2.5-4(a)(4) of this division. These contributions shall be made even if doing so would reduce a member's net cash compensation below the minimum wage rate as prescribed by law.
      (7)   By accepting employment with the city, each member shall be deemed to consent and agree to deductions made from the member's compensation, and payments to all such members of compensation, less the deduction, shall constitute a full and complete discharge of all claims and demands whatsoever for services rendered by such member during the period covered by such payment, except as to the benefits provided by the fund.
      (8)   The contributions of all members may be raised at any time from the amount stated in this section to a higher amount in accordance with the procedures provided by Tex. Revised Civil Statutes Article 6243i.
      (9)   Both group V and group VI firefighters will make contributions to the fund on built-in overtime.
      (10)   For all pay periods beginning on or after July 20, 2019, all members in all groups will contribute to the fund on all overtime.
   (b)   City contributions.
      (1)   For group III and group IV police members only, effective with the January 11, 2019 paycheck and with each paycheck thereafter, the city shall contribute to the fund 24.96% of their earnings. For all other members, effective with the January 11, 2019 paycheck and with each paycheck thereafter, the city shall contribute to the fund 24.24% of their earnings. Notwithstanding the foregoing, city contributions to the fund shall be reduced for each fiscal year by the amount of benefits paid by the city, if any, under the supplemental retirement ordinance. Subsection (a) shall not limit the right of the governing body, through its budget appropriation, to contribute an additional amount over and above the member's contribution in accordance with Tex. Revised Civil Statutes Article 6243i, as amended.
      (2)   If, following a member's involuntary termination of employment, the city is required, as the direct result of an appeal or suit arising from the involuntary termination, to reinstate the member's employment, the city shall make the contribution described in this section on any payment by the city to the member as back pay, without reduction for the member's interim earnings, if any. In addition, the city shall, on behalf of the member, make the member's contribution described in this § 2.5-3 on any interim earnings deducted from the back-pay award. Contributions made by the city on behalf of members whose employment is reinstated following a military leave of absence are governed by the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act, 38 U.S.C. §§ 4301-33, as provided for in subsection (a)(6) above.
      (3)   Effective for pay periods ending after April 1, 1999, the required member contributions described in subsection (a) above and subsection (c) below shall be picked up by the city and shall be treated as city contributions for federal income tax purposes. Such contributions, although designated as member contributions, shall be paid by the city on behalf of the members and in lieu of contributions by the members. The members shall not have the option of receiving such contributions directly instead of having such amounts paid by the city to the fund.
      (4)   Retirement contributions made on behalf of the members, as well as the city's contributions to the fund, shall be paid by the city based on weekly workers' compensation benefits (currently referred to as a temporary income benefits) paid to those members, beginning for such amounts received by members on or after January 1, 2006.
      (5)   Although overtime will not be included in the definition of earnings for group I general members and group III police members effective October 1, 2013, the city will continue to contribute its contribution on overtime for all group I general members and group III police members.
      (6)   Although overtime that is not built-in overtime will not be included in the definition of earnings for group V firefighters effective January 10, 2015, the city will continue to contribute its contribution on all overtime for all group V firefighters, and on built-in overtime for all group VI firefighters.
   (c)   Automatic contribution increases/ decreases.
      (1)   In addition to any and all member contributions under § 2.5-4(a) and any and all city contributions under § 2.5-4(b), if the combined city and member contributions based on then-existing contribution rates are less than the actuarially determined contribution amount (ADC) for two consecutive years based on a closed 30-year funding of the unfunded liabilities and a discount rate that is consistent with the average of rates reported by two independent sources that are agreed to by the city and the fund, both members and the city shall automatically be required to make further contributions, defined herein as "additional increases," as more specifically governed by this subsection (c). Additional increases due from members shall be referred to as "additional member contribution increases," and amounts due from the city shall be referred to as "additional city contribution increases." Changes to additional increases will only be applied beginning with the first paycheck of a given calendar year and will not be applied to any paychecks received prior to January 1, 2022.
      (2)   The amount of an additional increase applied in any given year will equal the difference between the ADC from the fund's most recent actuarial valuation and the then-current combined city and member contributions. Any additional increase shall be shared by both the members and the city, with the additional city contribution increase equaling one and one-half times that of the additional member contribution increase. In addition, the following caps shall apply:
         a.   Annual caps. The additional member contribution increase applied in any given calendar year may not exceed 0.8% of earnings over the member contribution rates that were applied in the previous calendar year. Accordingly, the additional city contribution increase applied in any given calendar year may not exceed 1.2% of earnings over the member contribution rates that were applied in the previous calendar year.
         b.   Aggregate caps. The additional member contribution increase applied in any given calendar year may never exceed 1.6% of earnings over the member contribution rates specified in § 2-5(a) for the same calendar year. Accordingly, the additional city contribution increase applied in any given calendar year may never exceed 2.4% of earnings over the city contribution rates specified in § 2-5(b) for the same calendar year.
      (3)   If two consecutive valuations by the fund's actuary indicate that some or all of the additional increase is no longer required to meet the ADC, then the additional increase may be unilaterally reduced by city council by that actuarially determined unrequired percentage, with the amount of such reduction to be allocated 40% to member contributions and 60% to city contributions, so that, for example, if it is determined that the total additional increase needed to meet the ADC can be decreased by 1%, then the additional member contribution increase would be decreased by 0.4% and the additional city contribution increase would be decreased by 0.6%.
(Ord. 20471-10-2012, § 2, passed 10-23-2012; Ord. 21510-10-2014, § 1, passed 10-21-2014; Ord. 23516-12-2018, § 2, passed 12-11-2018)