(a) Percent of participant contributions.
(1) (A) Group I. Each participant in Group I must contribute, through regular payroll deductions, 4 percent of regular earnings less than or equal to the Social Security wage base and 8 percent of regular earnings that exceed the Social Security wage base.
(B) Group II. Each participant in Group II must contribute, through regular payroll deductions, 3 percent of regular earnings less than or equal to the Social Security wage base and 6 percent of regular earnings that exceed the Social Security wage base.
(C) For service beginning on the first pay period after June 30, 2011 and before the first pay period beginning after July 1, 2012, a participant may contribute an additional 2 percent of regular earnings on an after-tax basis by making an irrevocable election in writing on or before September 1, 2011.
(2) To the extent allowed by the Internal Revenue Code, the County must “pick up” (as described in the Internal Revenue Code) mandatory member contributions to the Retirement Savings Plan for pay periods beginning on or after October 1, 1994. A participating agency must execute an adoption agreement before its employees can participate in the pickup plan.
(3) The Chief Administrative Officer may allow an agency that is not an “employing unit” (as described in Section 414(h)(2) of the Internal Revenue Code) to participate in the Retirement Savings Plan. The County must not “pick up” (as described in the Internal Revenue Code) mandatory contributions of members employed by a participating agency that is not an “employing unit.”
(4) The County must contribute on behalf of a participant who rejoins County service after military service that qualified under Section 33-119(b) as credited service an amount equal to the amount that the participant could have contributed if the participant had worked for the County during the period of military service.
(A) Contributions for the period of military service must be based on the regular earnings the participant would have earned during the period of military service. If this amount of regular earnings is not reasonably ascertainable, the contribution must be based on the participant’s average regular earnings during a period immediately preceding military service. The averaging period is 12 months, or the full length of the participant’s County service, whichever is shorter.
(B) Contributions under this paragraph count toward the maximum annual contribution limits under the Internal Revenue Code for the year for which the contributions relate.
(C) The participant is not entitled to any retroactive allocation of forfeitures or any retroactive crediting of earnings because of contributions under this subparagraph.
(D) The County must not credit a participant with a discretionary after-tax contribution under subsection (a)(1)(C) unless the participant elects to make up the contribution under Internal Revenue Code Section 414(u), as amended.
(b) Treatment of participant contributions.
(1) Required participant contributions must be allocated to the participant contributions account established for each participant. In addition, amounts allocated to the participant contributions account must be further allocated to sub-accounts to reflect the proportionate amount of each account invested in each of the applicable investment funds by the participant. As of each valuation date, the Board must value the assets of each participant contributions account on a current market value basis.
(2) A participant is always fully vested in the amount of the participant contributions account.
(c) Participant rollover contributions. With the Chief Administrative Officer's written consent, a participant may transfer or rollover to the retirement savings plan any interest in any other eligible retirement plan as defined in Internal Revenue Code Section 402(c).
(d) Treatment of rollover contributions.
(1) The County must allocate the rollover contributions made on behalf of each participant to a rollover contributions account the Board establishes for that participant. In addition, amounts allocated to each rollover contributions account must be further allocated to sub-accounts to reflect the proportionate amount of each account invested in each of the applicable investment funds by the participant.
(2) A participant is always fully vested in the amount of the rollover contributions account.
(e) Treatment of certain transfers.
(1) For each employee who transfers under Sections 33-115(a)(2) or (3) to the retirement savings plan, the Board must establish a separate employee transfer contributions account, or otherwise separately account, for employee contributions and interest transferred from the State of Maryland Retirement or Pension Systems to the Board under Section 33-115(a)(4). The Board must establish a subaccount of the account for each investment fund selected by the participant.
(2) A participant is fully vested in the amount transferred under paragraph (1).
(3) The Chief Administrative Officer may direct the Board to merge the amount transferred under paragraph (1) with the participant's regular account. (1994 L.M.C., ch. 13, § 2; 1996 L.M.C., ch. 27, § 1; 1997 L.M.C., ch. 36, §1; 1998 L.M.C., ch. 30, § 1; 2001 L.M.C., ch. 28, §§ 7, 15 and 16; 2008 L.M.C., ch. 25; § 2; 2010 L.M.C., ch. 56, § 1; 2011 L.M.C., ch. 9, § 1.)
Editor’s noteThe effective date of the amendments made to this section by 2001 L.M.C., ch. 28, § 7, is the same effective date as 1998 L.M.C., ch. 30, § 1.