Pursuant to the provisions of Tex. Gov't Code, Title 8, G, §§ 852.105, 854.202, 854.204, 854.405, 854.406, and 854.410, as amended, which subtitle shall herein be referred to as the “TMRS Act,” the city adopts the following provisions affecting the participation of its employees in the Texas Municipal Retirement System (which retirement system shall herein be referred to as the System):
(A) An employee of the city who is a member of the System may terminate employment and remain eligible to retire and receive a service retirement annuity at any time after that member attains an applicable age as provided by law if the member has at least five years of credited service performed for one or more municipalities that have authorized eligibility under Tex. Gov't Code, § 854.205(b), TMRS Act.
(B) An employee of the city who is a member of the System may retire and receive a service retirement annuity if the member is at least 60 years old and has at least five years of credited service in the retirement system that is performed for one or more municipalities that have authorized eligibility under Tex. Gov't Code, §§ 854.205 and 854.102(h), TMRS Act.
(C) Any employee of this city who is a member of the System is eligible to retire and receive a service retirement annuity, if the member has at least 20 years of credited service in that System performed for one or more municipalities that have adopted a like provision under Tex. Gov't Code, § 854.202(g), TMRS Act.
(D) If a member shall die before becoming eligible for service retirement, and leaves a surviving lawful spouse whom the member has designated as beneficiary entitled to the payment of the member's accumulated contributions in the event of the member's death before retirement, the surviving spouse may, by written notice filed with the System, elect to leave the accumulated deposits on deposit with the System, subject to the terms and conditions of Tex. Gov't Code, § 854.204(b), TMRS Act. If the accumulated deposits have not been withdrawn before such time as the member, if living, would have become entitled to service retirement, the surviving spouse may elect to receive, in lieu of the accumulated deposits, an annuity payable monthly thereafter during the lifetime of the surviving spouse in such amount as would have been payable had the member lived and retired at that date, under a joint and survivor annuity (Option 1), payable during the life-time of the member and continuing during the lifetime of the surviving spouse.
(E) At any time before the payment of the first monthly benefit of an annuity, a surviving spouse to whom division (D) of this section applies may, upon written application filed with the System, receive payment of the accumulated contributions standing to the account of the member in lieu of any benefits otherwise payable under this section. In the event such a surviving spouse shall die before payment of the first monthly benefit of an annuity allowed under this section, the accumulated contributions credited to the account of the member shall be paid to the estate of such spouse.
(F) Any employee of the city who is a member of the System and who performed service for the city prior to September 1, 1987 (for which service that employee did not receive credit with the System because the employee was not at the time a member of the System due to his or her age at the date of his or her employment) is hereby granted service credit with the System for all such service (performed after the date of his or her latest employment by the city) that is prior to September 1, 1987, for which the employee has not previously received credit with the System, pursuant to Tex. Gov't Code, § 852.105, TMRS Act.
(G) The rights hereinabove authorized shall be in addition to the plan provisions heretofore adopted in force at the effective date of this section pursuant to the TMRS Act.
(H) (1) Any employee of the city who is a member of the System is eligible to retire and receive a “standard occupational disability annuity” under Tex. Gov't Code, § 854.408, TMRS Act, or an “optional occupational disability retirement annuity” under Tex. Gov't Code, § 854.410, TMRS Act, upon making application therefor upon such form and in such manner as may be prescribed by the Board of Trustees of the System, provided that the System's medical board has certified to the Board of Trustees that:
(a) The member is physically or mentally disabled for further performance of the duties of the member's employment;
(b) The disability is likely to be permanent; and
(c) The member should be retired.
(2) Any annuity granted under this division (H) shall be subject to the provisions of Tex. Gov't Code, § 854.409, TMRS Act.
(I) The provisions relating to the occupational disability program as set forth in division (H) of this section are in lieu of the disability program heretofore provided for under Tex. Gov't Code, §§ 854.301 through 854.308, TMRS Act.
(J) Pursuant to Tex. Gov't Code, Title 8, Subtitle G, § 853.003, as amended, the city hereby elects to allow any member of the Texas Municipal Retirement System who is an employee of the city on October 11, 2005, who has terminated a previous membership in the System by withdrawal of deposits while absent from service, but who has at least 24 months of credited service as an employee of the city since resuming membership to deposit with the System in a lump sum the amount withdrawn, plus a withdrawal charge of 5% of that amount for each year from the date of the withdrawal to the date of redeposit, and thereupon the member shall be allowed credit for all service to which the member has been entitled at the date of termination of the earlier membership, with like effect as if all the service had been rendered as an employee of the city, whether so rendered or not. The city agrees to underwrite and hereby assumes obligations arising out of the granting of all of the credits, and agrees that all obligations and reserves required to provide the credits shall be charged to the city’s account in the municipality accumulation fund. The 5% per annum withdrawal charge paid by the member shall be deposited to the credit of the city’s account in the municipality accumulation fund; and the deposits of the amount previously withdrawn by the member shall be credited to his or her individual account in the employee’s savings fund of the System.
(Ord. 91-11, passed 9-26-91; Am. Ord. 99-28, passed 9-14-99; Am. Ord. 2002-23, passed 10-8-02; Am. Ord. 2005-37, passed 10-11-05)