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If a member of the fire department shall die, before retirement from causes other than an injury received in or illness caused by the performance of duty, or regardless of cause, if no allowance shall be payable under Section A8.596-4 or A8.596-5 preceding, a death benefit shall be paid to his or her estate or designated beneficiary, the amount of which and the conditions for the payment of which shall be determined in the manner prescribed by the Board of Supervisors for the death benefit of other members of the Retirement System. Upon the death of a member after retirement and regardless of the cause of death, a death benefit shall be paid to his or her estate or designated beneficiary the amount of which and the conditions for the payment of which shall be determined in the manner prescribed by the Board of Supervisors for the death benefit of other members of the Retirement System.
(Added November 2002)
Should any member of the fire department cease to be employed as such a member, through any cause other than death or retirement or transfer to another office or department, all of his or her contributions, with interest credited thereon, shall be refunded to him or her subject to the conditions prescribed by the Board of Supervisors to govern similar terminations of employment of other members of the Retirement System. If he or she shall again become a member of the department, he or she shall redeposit in the retirement fund, the amount refunded to him or her. Should a member of the fire department become an employee of any other office or department, his or her accumulated contribution account shall be adjusted by payments to or from him or her as the case may be to make the accumulated contributions credited to him or her at the time of change, equal to the amount which would have been credited to him or her if he or she had been employed in said other office or department at the rate of compensation received by him or her in the fire department and he or she shall receive credit for service for which said contributions were made, according to the Charter section under which his or her membership in the Retirement System continues.
(Added November 2002)
The following time shall be included in the computation of the service to be credited to a member of the fire department for the purposes of determining whether such member qualified for retirement and calculating benefits, excluding, however, any time, the contributions for which were withdrawn by said member upon termination of his or her service while he or she was a member under any other Charter section, and not redeposited upon reentry into service:
(a) Time during and for which said member is entitled to receive compensation because of services as a member of the police or fire department.
(b) Time during which said member is absent from a status included in Subsection (a) next preceding, by reason of service in the armed forces of the United States of America, or by reason of any other service included in Sections A8.520 and A8.521 of the Charter, during any war in which the United States was or shall be engaged or during other national emergency, and for which said member contributed or contributes to the Retirement System or for which the City and County contributed or contributes on his or her account.
(c) Time during which said member was on Unpaid Parental Leave pursuant to Charter Section A8.523, and for which said member has purchased service credit in the Retirement System.
(Added November 2002; Amended by Proposition G, 11/4/2008)
All payments provided for members under Section A8.596 shall be made from funds derived from the following sources, plus interest earned on said funds:
(a) There shall be deducted from each payment of compensation made to a member under Section A8.596 a sum equal to seven percent of such payment of compensation. The sum so deducted shall be paid forthwith to the Retirement System. Said contribution shall be credited to the individual account of the member from whose salary it was deducted, and the total of said contributions, together with interest credited thereon in the same manner as is prescribed by the board of supervisors for crediting interest to contributions of other members of the Retirement System, shall be applied to provide part of the retirement allowance granted to, or allowance granted on account of said member, or shall be paid to said member or his or her estate or beneficiary as provided in Section A8.596-4, A8.596-5 and A8.596-8.
(b) The dependent contributions of each member under this Section which shall be required of each member throughout his or her membership in addition to the normal contributions, and in the same manner as normal contributions, shall be such as, on the average for such member, will provide, assuming service without interruption under Section A8.596-2, and upon he or she first qualifying as to age and service for retirement under that section, one-third of the portion of his or her allowance, which is to be continued under Section A8.596-5 after his or her death and throughout the life of a surviving spouse whose age at said death is three years less than the age of said member. If, at the date of retirement for service or retirement for disability resulting from injury received in the performance of duty, said member has no spouse who would qualify for the continuance of the allowance to him or her after the death of said member, or upon retirement for disability resulting from other causes, regardless of his or her marital conditions, the dependent contributions with accumulated interest thereon, shall be paid to him or her forthwith. The dependent rate of contribution, however, shall not exceed the difference between seven percent and the member's normal rate of contribution, and said dependent rate may be taken as a flat percentage of the member's normal rate, regardless of the age of qualification for service retirement.
(c) The City and County shall contribute to the Retirement System such amounts as may be necessary, when added to the contributions referred to in Subsection (a) of this Section A8.596-11, to provide the benefits payable to members under Section A8.596. Such contributions of the City and County to provide the portion of the benefits hereunder shall be made in annual installments, and the installment to be paid in any year shall be determined by the application of a percentage to the total compensation paid during said year to persons who are members under Section A8.596 in accordance with the provisions of Section A8.510.
(d) To promote the stability of the Retirement System through a joint participation in the result of variations in the experience under mortality, investment and other contingencies, the contributions of both members and the City and County held by the system to provide benefits for members under Section A8.596, shall be a part of the fund in which all other assets of said system are included.
(e) Any year in which, based upon the Retirement System's annual actuarial valuation, the employer contribution rate exceeds 0%, the employee organizations representing safety members shall jointly meet and confer with City representatives to implement a cost sharing arrangement between the City and employee organizations. Such arrangement will effect a material reduction of the cost impact of employer contributions on the City's general fund.
The dollar value of the cost sharing arrangement shall not exceed the total annual cost to the Retirement System of improving the police and fire safety retirement plans to the 3% @ 55 benefit level or the total employer contribution required by the Retirement System, whichever is lesser. Such cost sharing arrangement shall not require an employee contribution in excess of the limits set elsewhere in this Charter.
The meet and confer process, including all impasse procedures under section A8.590-1 et seq., shall be concluded not later than April 1st except by mutual agreement of the parties. The cost sharing arrangement must be finalized to permit implementation effective July 1.
(f) Notwithstanding any other provision of this Section A8.596-11 or this Charter, beginning on July 1, 2012, the employee contribution rate set forth in Subsection (a) shall be increased or decreased each fiscal year based on the employer contribution rate for that fiscal year calculated by the Retirement System's actuary as prescribed in Subsection (c). Said increase or decrease in the employee contribution rate shall be calculated as a percentage of compensation, as set forth below:
Employer Contribution Rate | Change In Member Contribution |
Employer Contribution Rate | Change In Member Contribution |
0% | -6.0% |
.01%-1.0% | -5.0% |
1.01%-2.5% | -4.75% |
2.51%-4.0% | -4.5% |
4.01%-5.5% | -3.5% |
5.51%-7.0% | -3.0% |
7.01%-8.5% | -2.0% |
8.51%-10.0% | -1.5% |
10.01%-11.0% | -0.5% |
11.01%-12.0% | 0% |
12.01%-13.0% | 0.5% |
13.01%-15.0% | 1.5% |
15.01%-17.5% | 2.0% |
17.51%-20.0% | 3.0% |
20.01%-22.5% | 3.5% |
22.51%-25.0% | 4.5% |
25.01%-27.5% | 4.5% |
27.51%-30.0% | 4.75% |
30.01%-32.5% | 4.75% |
32.51%-35.0% | 5.0% |
Over 35.0% | 6.0% |
The employee contribution increases shall be deducted from each payment of compensation and shall be paid forthwith to the Retirement System. Said additional contribution shall be credited to the individual account of the member from whose salary it was deducted, and the total of said contributions, together with interest credited thereon in the same manner as is prescribed by the Board of Supervisors for crediting interest to contributions of other members of the Retirement System, shall be applied to provide part of the retirement allowance granted to, or allowance granted on account of, said member under Section A8.596, or shall be paid to said member or his or her beneficiary or estate as provided in Sections A8.596-4, A8.596-5 and A8.596-8.
The percentage increase in member contributions shall reduce, by a corresponding percentage, the City and County contributions to the Retirement System on account of said member otherwise required for that fiscal year.
The employee contribution decreases shall be paid by the City and County at the time each member is paid compensation, such that the Retirement System receives from the member and the City and County combined, a sum equal to seven percent of the member's compensation as provided in Subsection (a). The sums so received shall be credited to the individual accounts of the member on whose behalf the contributions are made.
The percentage increase in contributions by the City and County shall be in addition to the contributions required by the City and County under Subsection (c) for that fiscal year.
(Added November 2002; amended by Proposition G, Approved 11/4/2008; Proposition C, Approved 11/8/2011)
(Added November 2002)
Except as otherwise provided in Section A8.511 of this Charter, no person retired as a member under Section A8.596 for service or disability and entitled to receive a retirement allowance under the Retirement System shall serve in any elective or appointive position in the City and County service, including membership on boards and commissions, nor shall such person receive any payment for service rendered to the City and County after retirement, provided that service as an election officer or juror, or in the preparation for, or the giving of, testimony as an expert witness for or on behalf of the City and County of San Francisco before any court or legislative body shall not be affected by this section.
(Added November 2002)
Notwithstanding any provisions of this Charter to the contrary, should any member of the fire department who is a member of the Retirement System under Charter Section A8.596 with five years of credited service, cease to be so employed, through any cause other than death or retirement, he or she shall have the right to elect, without right of revocation and within 90 days after termination of said service, to allow his or her accumulated contributions including interest to remain in the retirement fund and to receive a retirement allowance equal to the percent set forth in Section A8.596-2 opposite his or her age at retirement, for each year of service multiplied against the final compensation of said member, calculated at termination, payable beginning no earlier than age 50. The provisions of Section A8.596-14 shall not apply to any members of the Retirement System under Section A8.585 who terminated before January 1, 2003 or their continuants. No vesting retirement allowance under this section shall exceed ninety (90%) percent of the member's final compensation.
Any member of the fire department convicted of a crime involving moral turpitude committed in connection with his or her duties as a member of the fire department shall, upon termination of his or her employment pursuant to the provisions of this Charter, forfeit all right to any benefits under this section except refund of his or her accumulated contributions.
Every retirement or death allowance payable to or on account of any member under Section A8.596-14 shall be adjusted in accordance with the provisions of Section A8.596-6 provided that if the member's accrued service credit is less than 25 years the Section A8.596-6 adjustment will be multiplied by a fraction where the denominator is 25 and the numerator is equal to the member's accrued service credit at the date of termination.
(Added November 2002)
Any Section or part of any Section in this Charter, insofar as it should conflict with the provisions of Section A8.596 or with any part thereof shall be superseded by the contents of Section A8.596. Section A8.596 shall be interpreted to be consistent with all federal and state laws, rules, and regulations. If any words, phrases, clauses, sentences, subsections, provisions or portions of Section A8.596 are held to be invalid or unconstitutional by a final judgment of a court, such decision shall not affect the validity of the remaining words, phrases, clauses, sentences, subsections, provisions or portions of Section A8.596. If any words, phrases, clauses, sentences, subsections, provisions or portions of Section A8.596 are held invalid as applied to any person, circumstance, employee or category of employee, such invalidity shall not affect any application of Section A8.596 which can be given effect. Section A8.596 shall be broadly construed to achieve its stated purposes.
(Added by Proposition C, Approved 11/8/2011)
A8.597 MEMBERS OF THE POLICE DEPARTMENT ON JANUARY 1, 2003 WHO ARE MEMBERS OF THE RETIREMENT SYSTEM UNDER CHARTER SECTION A8.586, AND MEMBERS OF THE POLICE DEPARTMENT AFTER JANUARY 1, 2003
Members of the police department on January 1, 2003 who are members of the Retirement System under Section A8.586, and persons who become members of the police department, as defined in Section A8.597-1, after January 1, 2003, shall be members of the Retirement System subject to the provisions of Sections A8.597 through A8.597-15 (which shall apply only to members under Section A8.597) in addition to the provisions contained in Sections 12.100 to 12.103 and Sections 8.500, 8.510, 8.520 and 8.526 of this Charter, notwithstanding the provisions of any other section of this Charter, and shall not be subject to any of the provisions of Sections A8.586 of this Charter.
The provisions of section A8.597 shall not apply to any member of the Retirement System under section A8.586 who separated from service, retired or died before January 1, 2003, or to his or her continuant; provided, however, that the provisions of section A8.597-2 shall apply to the adjustment required in Sections A8.586-3, A8.586-4 and A8.586-5 for a retired member or his or her surviving spouse or continuant when the retired member would not have completed at least twenty-five (25) years of service in the aggregate and attained the age of fifty (50) years until after January 1, 2003.
(Added November 2002)
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