Notwithstanding the provisions of Section 2.124.1300 of this chapter, the council shall enact an ordinance or ordinances prescribing the conditions according to which any member retired for service or disability may irrevocably elect to receive a reduced retirement allowance during such member's lifetime in order that the member's surviving spouse may receive a continuation allowance, provided that the member was married at the time of retirement, is married to a different spouse at the time of death, was married to such different spouse at least two years prior to the date of death and the surviving spouse would otherwise qualify for a continuation allowance. The surviving spouse's continuation allowance shall be one-half of the member's reduced retirement allowance. The ordinance or ordinances shall provide that the election shall be made within sixty (60) days after the date the retired member remarries or within thirty (30) days after the enactment of the ordinance, in the case of a retired member who on the effective date of this section has been married to a different spouse than at the time of retirement for more than sixty (60) days.
The ordinance or ordinances shall further provide that the reduction in the member's allowance shall be made by the retirement system manager and shall be calculated on an actuarial basis so that the reduction in the member's allowance is actuarially equivalent to one-half of the continuation allowance which the surviving spouse will receive. The reduction shall become effective on the date of election. A member may make only one election under this section. This section shall not apply to persons electing an optional allowance under Section 2.124.1380 of this chapter.
It is the intent of this section that one-half of the cost of the continuation allowance which the surviving spouse is to receive will be borne by the member in the form of the reduction in the member's allowance. The reduction in the member's allowance shall be calculated on an actuarial basis. (Prior code § 34.06.634)