Pursuant to the provisions of Tex. Gov’t Code §§ 854.202(f), 854.405, 854.406 and 854.410, as amended, the city adopts the following provisions affecting participation of its employees in the State Municipal Retirement System (which retirement system shall be referred to in this section as the “System”).
(A) Any employee of the city who is a member of the System is eligible to retire and receive a service retirement annuity if the member has at least 20 years of credited service in that System performed for one or more municipalities that have participation dates after 9-1-1987, or have adopted a like provision under Tex. Gov’t Code § 854.202(f).
(B) If a “vested member”, as that term is defined in Tex. Gov’t Code § 851.001, shall die before becoming eligible for service retirement and leaves surviving a lawful spouse whom the member has designated as beneficiary entitled to payment of the member’s accumulated contributions in event of the member’s death before retirement, the surviving spouse may, by written notice filed with the system, elect to leave the accumulated deposits on deposit with the system. If the accumulated deposits have not been withdrawn before such time as the member, if living, would have become entitled to service retirement, the surviving spouse may elect to receive, in lieu of the accumulated deposits, an annuity payable monthly thereafter during the lifetime of the surviving spouse in such amount as would have been payable had the member lived and retired at that date under a joint and survivor annuity (Option 1) payable during the lifetime of the member and continuing thereafter during the lifetime of the surviving spouse.
(C) At any time before payment of the first monthly benefit of an annuity, a surviving spouse to whom division (B) above applies may, upon written application filed with the system, receive payment of the accumulated contributions standing to the account of the member in lieu of any benefits otherwise payable under this section. If such a surviving spouse shall die before payment of the first monthly benefit of an annuity allowed under this section, the accumulated contributions credited to the account of the member shall be paid to the estate of such spouse.
(D) The rights, credits and benefits authorized in divisions (A) through (C) above shall be in addition to the plan provisions heretofore adopted and in force at the effective date of the ordinance from which this section is derived pursuant to Tex. Gov’t Code §§ 851.001 et seq.
(E) Any employee of the city who is a member of the System is eligible to retire and receive a standard disability annuity under Tex. Gov’t Code § 854.408 or an optional occupation disability retirement annuity under Tex. Gov’t Code § 854.410, upon making application therefor upon such form and in such manner as may be prescribed by the Board of Trustees of the System; provided that, the System’s Medical Board has certified to the Board of Trustees that the member is physically or mentally disabled for further performance of the duties of the member’s employment, that the disability is likely to be permanent, and that the member should be retired. Any annuity granted under this division (E) shall be subject to the provisions of Tex. Gov’t Code § 854.409.
(F) The provisions relating to the occupational disability program as set forth in division (E) above are in lieu of the disability program heretofore provided for under Tex. Gov’t Code §§ 854.301 through 854.308.
(1998 Code, § 90-231)