(a) Pension payment. A member's pension will be paid in advance each month during retirement, beginning on the retirement date elected. In the event of the member's death before the end of the month, advanced retirement pension for such month is not returnable. The full monthly amount of each payment will equal one-twelfth of the yearly amount of pension for the member. Payments for less than one (1) full month must be prorated on a daily basis. When pension payments begin, the chief administrative officer must send the member a notice showing the amount and terms of payment. If the payee for any payment is a minor or an incompetent person, the chief administrative officer may authorize payments be made to the person legally responsible for the payee.
(b) Discontinuance of pension payments. A member must not receive pension payments while serving in an appointed or elected County office that receives any compensation paid by the County. A member appointed to a full-time County position must become a member of the retirement system or the Retirement Savings Plan under Sections 33-37 and 33-115 and make member contributions until later separation under Article III or Article VIII. The retirement benefit of an employee who resumes membership in the optional or integrated plan must be recalculated when the employee later separates from service. The retirement benefit under the integrated or optional plans of Article III of an employee who becomes a member of the Retirement Savings Plan or the guaranteed retirement income plan must resume when the employee later separates from service.
(c) Exemption from claims. All pension payments under the system are non-assignable and are exempt from the claims of creditors to the maximum extent permitted by law.
(d) Advanced quarterly payments. Quarterly payments may be made in advance, or with the consent of the payee, a single sum payment in an actuarially equivalent amount may be made, if the amount of any monthly payment payable to any payee would be less than twenty-five dollars ($25.00).
(e) Seven-year limitation. There will be no obligation to make any payment to a payee hereunder unless the payor has received proof that the payee was living on the due date of the payment. If such proof is not received within seven (7) years after the due date of the payment, and if no proof of death of the payee is received during such seven-year period, the obligations of the payor as to the payment will be the same as if the payee had died immediately before the due date of the payment.
(f) Lost Participants in the Elected Officials’ Plan or Guaranteed Retirement Income Plan. The Chief Administrative Officer must use all reasonable resources to locate or communicate with a former participant or a beneficiary in order to make and process required minimum distributions as required by Internal Revenue Code Section 401(a)(9). If such efforts fail, the Chief Administrative Officer, or a third party holding these amounts, must distribute the former participant’s or beneficiary’s unprocessed required minimum distributions to the State under the unclaimed property laws. No amounts will be due to a former participant or beneficiary once paid to the State. The former participant or beneficiary must claim the distributed amounts directly from the State. (Ord. No. 5-152; Ord. No. 6-195, § 1; 1978 L.M.C., ch. 44, § 1; 1987 L.M.C., ch. 29, § 9; 1998 L.M.C., ch. 30, § 1; 2008 L.M.C., ch. 22, § 1; 2009 L.M.C., ch. 23, § 1; 2010 L.M.C., ch. 49, § 1; 2021 L.M.C., ch. 16, §1.)
Editor’s note—See County Attorney Opinion dated 9/12/05 discussing the legislative history and prior opinions regarding the effect of hiring a retired employee on a part-time basis. See County Attorney Opinion dated 10/1/91 explaining that the retirement law does not require discontinuation of retirement benefits of employees who return to County employment in temporary positions.