291.01 Definitions.
291.02 Administration.
291.03 Eligibility.
291.04 Contributions.
291.05 Benefits.
291.06 Termination of employment and refund of contributions.
291.07 Valuation requirements.
291.08 Modifications.
291.09 Authority; intent.
CROSS REFERENCES
Restrictions on municipal powers as to retirement - see Opt. 3rd Class § 305
Pensions generally - see 3rd Class §§ 4301 et seq.
Firemen's Pension Fund - see 3rd Class §§ 4301 et seq.; ADM. Ch. 290
Officers' and Employees' Retirement System - see ADM. Ch. 286
Police Pension Fund - see ADM. Ch. 288
Bureau of Sewage Pension Fund - see ADM. Ch. 292
Social security - see ADM. 294.13
Retirement of plumbers - see B. & H. 1448.06
As used in this chapter:
(a) "Act" means the Municipal Pension Plan Funding Standard and Recovery Act (Act 205 of 1984 (P.L. 1005), 53 P.S. 895.101 et seq., as amended).
(b) "Code" means the Third Class City Code.
(c) "Compensation" means the base salary plus longevity paid by the employer.
(d) "Council" means the Council of the City of Johnstown.
(e) "Disability" means a condition of total and permanent physical or mental incapacity, due to which a member is unable to perform any customary duties of his or her employment with the employer.
(f) "Effective date" means the date upon which this chapter (Ordinance 4441, passed October 28, 1987) becomes effective, that is, January 1, 1988.
(g) "Employee" means any fireman employed by the employer on a full-time basis as a member of the employer's Department of Fire.
(h) "Employer" means the City of Johnstown.
(i) "Final monthly average salary" means the rate of monthly pay of a member as of the date of retirement, or the highest average annual salary which a member received during any five years of continuous service preceding his or her date of retirement, whichever is the greater amount.
(j) "Member" means an employee who has met the eligibility requirements of Section 291.03, and who has not, for any reason, ceased his or her participation hereunder.
(k) "Pension Fund" means the Firemen's Pension Fund administered under this chapter and under the rules and regulations of the Board of Trustees, as set forth in Section 291.02, which Fund includes all money, property, investments, policies and contracts that are a part of the Plan.
(l) "Plan" means the pension plan set forth herein and designated as the City of Johnstown New Firemen's Pension Plan.
(m) "Plan year" means the twelve-month period beginning on January 1 and ending on the subsequent December 31 of each year.
(n) "Year of continuous service" means a twelve-month period of continuous employment during which a member is employed with the employer and paid out of the City Treasury.
(Ord. 4441. Passed 10-28-87; Ord. 5355. Passed 6-14-23.)
The Pension Fund shall be aggregated with other pension funds maintained by the employer to create a single pension trust fund, which shall thereafter serve as the funding mechanism for all pension plans connected with the aggregation. Each pension plan subject to the aggregation shall have an undivided participation in the assets of the combined pension trust fund. For accounting purposes, the value of the participation by each plan shall be calculated annually, in accordance with Section 607 of the Act.
The aggregate pension trust fund shall be managed by a Board of Trustees, which shall include at least one representative of the active membership of each plan included in the fund. All members of such Board shall be elected by the active membership of such plan.
The employer may direct the Board of Trustees to pay expenses from the Pension Fund which are attributable to the preparation of any actuarial valuation report or experience investigation required by the Act, or any other expense which is permissible under the Act and which is directly associated with administering the Plan. Such permissible expenses shall include, but are not limited to, investment costs associated with obtaining authorized investments and investment management fees, accounting expenses, premiums for insurance coverage on Fund assets, reasonable and customary counsel fees incurred for advice or to defend the Pension Fund, and legitimate travel and education expenses incurred by Plan officials, which expenses are necessary and reasonable and benefit the Pension Fund.
It shall be the duty of the Board of Trustees to receive, retain and distribute Pension Fund contributions and pension payments to members who are entitled to receive such contributions and payments. No contributions or pension payments to a member shall be made from any other fund maintained or controlled by the City, except the pension trust fund.
The employer may take, by gift, grant, devise or bequest, any money or property, real, personal or mixed, in trust for the benefit of the Pension Fund. The care, management, investment and disposal of such funds or property shall be vested in the Board of Trustees, and such care, management and disposal shall likewise be directed by ordinance, and such Pension Fund shall be governed thereby, subject to such directions, not inconsistent therewith, as the donors of such funds and property may prescribe.
Legal title to assets in the aggregated pension trust fund shall be in the Municipality as trustee, or its nominees as trustees, for any person having a beneficial interest in a particular pension plan that is associated with the pension trust fund.
Each member hired before January 1, 2018 shall contribute five percent of the member's compensation each month to the Pension Fund, plus five dollars per month. Members hired on or after January 1, 2018 shall contribute seven percent of the member's compensation each month to the Pension Fund, plus one dollar per month.
With the approval of Council, a member who is making contributions and who served in the Armed Forces of the United States after September 1, 1940, and who was not a member of the Firemen's Pension Fund prior to such military service, shall be entitled to have full credit for each year or fraction thereof, not to exceed five years of continuous service, upon the member's payment to the Pension Fund of an amount equal to that which the member would have paid had the member been a member during the period for which the member desires credit, and upon the member's payment to the Pension Fund of an additional amount as the equivalent of the contribution of the employer, plus any interest the employer would have been required to pay on the contributions, on account of such military service.
(Ord. 4441. Passed 10-28-87; Ord. 5355. Passed 6-14-23.)
(a) Members hired before January 1, 2018 shall be entitled to receive a normal retirement benefit, provided the member has completed at least twenty years of continuous service with the employer. Members hired on or after January 1, 2018 shall be entitled to a normal retirement benefit upon attainment of the age of fifty-five and the completion of twenty-five years of continuous service. Payment of pension benefits upon retirement shall be conditioned upon a member being subject to service, from time to time, as a firemen's reserve, until unfitted for service, at which time such member shall be finally discharged by reason of age or disability. In no case, however, shall a member's retirement be later than the date when he or she attains age sixty-five.
(b) A member entitled to a pension benefit shall receive, during his or her lifetime, a monthly retirement income which is equal to one-half of his or her final monthly average salary.
(c) Each member who becomes entitled to a pension benefit shall also become entitled to payment of a service increment benefit equal to the number of whole years in excess of twenty of continuous service, or twenty-five years for members hired on or after January 1, 2018, (including any credit for military service as provided in Section 291.04) multiplied by one-fortieth of the pension benefit which the member is entitled to receive. No service increment which is in excess of five hundred dollars per month, or one hundred dollars per month in the case of a member hired on or after January 1, 2018, shall be paid to a member, nor shall such increment reflect any employment after the member has reached sixty-five years of age.
(d) The pension payments herein provided for shall be payable only to the member and his or her survivors and shall not be subject to attachment, execution, levy, garnishment or other legal process, nor shall they be subject to assignment or transfer.
(e) If a member who is active or who is eligible to receive or is receiving pension benefits dies, the spouse of the deceased member shall, during the spouse's lifetime, receive a monthly pension which shall be equal to fifty percent of the amount which the mem her was receiving or would have received prior to the member's date of death. For members with a hire date prior to January 1, 2018, the survivor's benefit shall be one hundred percent.
(f) If a member who has completed at least fifteen years of continuous service with the employer incurs a disability, or if a member who has completed less than fifteen years of continuous service with the employer incurs a disability while in the line of duty, and the member is unable to perform the duties of a member, the member shall be entitled to receive a disability pension benefit equal to the member's pension benefit calculated as of the member's date of disability.
(g) Whenever a member becomes entitled to receive a pension benefit from the Pension Fund, he or she shall not be deprived of his or her benefit, except for one or more of the following causes: conviction of a felony or misdemeanor; becoming a habitual drunkard; or failing to comply with some general regulation relating to the management of the Pension Fund, if such regulation provides that failure to comply shall terminate the right to participate in the Pension Fund. Any termination of a pension benefit shall be only after such due notice and hearing as shall be prescribed by regulations of Council.
(Ord. 4441. Passed 10-28-87; Ord. 4928. Passed 2-11-04; Ord. 5355. Passed 6-14-23.)
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