[HISTORY: Adopted by the Borough Council
of the Borough of Kane as indicated in article histories. Amendments
noted where applicable.]
[Adopted 5-8-2000 by Ord. No. A-945]
There is hereby created a Pension Fund of the
Borough of Kane, to be known as "Kane Police Pension Fund," sometimes
hereinafter referred to as the "Fund." Said Fund is established for
and shall exist for the purposes contained in the aforesaid Acts of
the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania of May 29,
1956, as amended.[1]
[1]
Editor's Note: See 77 P.S. § 671
et seq.
All assets of the Kane Police Pension Fund created
and established by Ord. No. A-656 and Ord. No. A-675, as amended,
of the Borough of Kane shall be transferred to the Fund established
by this article. Inasmuch as the titles of the Fund established by
Ord. No. A-656 and Ord. No. A-675 and by this article are the same,
and registers securities or bank accounts may be continued in existence
by transfer of the same from the Fund established by Ord. No. A-656
and Ord. No. A-675 to the Fund established by this article shall be
deemed to have been made by enactment of this article.
All liabilities existing under the Fund established
by the aforesaid Ord. No. A-656 and Ord. No. A-675, as amended, are
hereby transferred to the Fund established by this article.
The assets of said Fund shall be kept separate
and apart from other funds of the borough, and the Treasurer thereof
shall furnish a corporate surety bond in such sum as the Kane Police
Pension Board may from time to time fix and require.
There is hereby created a Kane Police Pension
Board; which shall have in charge the regulation, care, management,
investment, disposal, administration and distribution of the Fund.
The Kane Police Pension Board sometimes hereinafter referred to as
the Board, shall consist of the Mayor and the Chief of Police, whose
membership on said Board shall be concurrent with the tenure of office
of each; two members of the Kane Borough Council, to be appointed
by the President of said Council for a term of two years from the
date of their appointment and during their tenure of office; and a
member of the Police Department of the Borough, other than the Chief
of Police, who shall be elected by a majority vote of all the members
of the Department for a term of two years from the date of his election.
The Board shall elect annually a Chairman and
a Secretary from among its members. The Treasurer of the Borough of
Kane shall be the Treasurer of the Fund. Three members of the Board
shall constitute a quorum for all purposes. The Treasurer of the Borough
shall not, for any purpose, be deemed to be a member of the Board
nor shall he be entitled to a vote at any meeting of the Board, but
he shall be entitled to attend all meetings of the Board. The Board
shall meet not less than twice a year, and shall keep minutes and
records of its proceedings, decisions and findings, and shall annually,
or when requested by the Mayor or the Council of the Borough, make
a complete and detailed financial statement to the Council at least
once annually and upon any other request by the Council for such statement.
All books and records of the Board shall be open for inspection by
any member of the Council or any Officer of the Borough, by any taxpayer
of the Borough, or the agent or representative of any such persons,
at all reasonable times. The accounts of the Board shall be audited
annually by the Auditors of the Borough or in such other manner.
All members of the Police Force of the Borough
of Kane shall be included in the Police Pension Plan hereby established.
Membership in said plan is and shall be compulsory for all members
of said Police Force. All rights and privileges vested in any member
of the Police Force by virtue of Ord. No. A-656 and Ord. No. A-675
of this Borough shall continue in full force and effect and shall
be deemed hereby to be transferred to the Police Pension Plan hereby
created and to the Fund hereby created.
The terms and provisions of this article shall
not be deemed in any manner to repeal, amend, alter or otherwise affect
Ord. No. A-648 relating to extension of the Social Security System
to employees and officers of the Borough of Kane, nor any resolutions
relating to Social Security coverage for such employees and officers;
nor shall it be deemed in any manner to modify any provisions heretofore
or hereafter enacted relating to the deduction from the compensation
of Borough officers and employees for the purpose of payment into
the Contribution Fund established by the General Assembly of the Commonwealth
of Pennsylvania by Act No. 491 of the 1951 session, P.L. 1833, as
amended or supplemented,[1] insofar as said provisions for deduction from compensation
of Borough officers and employees relate to members of the Borough
shall continue to be covered under the Social Security system and
the compensation of all members of the Police Department shall continue
to be subject to deduction for purposes of payments into the aforesaid
Contribution Fund. It is declared hereby to be the intent of the Council
to continue Social Security coverage for all members of the Police
Department and to continue deduction from the compensation of such
members for purposes of Social Security.
[1]
Editor's Note: See 65 P.S. § 201
et seq.
All members of the Police Department shall pay
into the Kane Police Pension Fund monthly, 5% of their gross monthly
salary. Said payments shall be made by each member of the Police Department
during such periods of time as required by the Board. Decision of
the Board as to the necessity for payments by members of the Police
Department shall be made on the basis of the payments received from
the Treasurer of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania from the moneys
received from taxes paid upon premiums by foreign casualty insurance
companies and shall be required only when such payments from the Treasurer
of the Commonwealth are insufficient to eliminate the necessity of
contributions by members of the Police Department. In the event that
the moneys received from the Treasurer of the Commonwealth are insufficient
to eliminate wholly the necessity for contributions from members of
the Police Department, the Board shall determine the amount of reduction
justified in member's contribution by the moneys received from the
Treasurer of the Commonwealth and shall establish the reduced payments
to be made by members of the Police Department. Upon becoming a member
of the Police Department such member shall, in writing, authorize
the deduction from his compensation of such amounts as may be established
from time to time, by the Board and payment of such deducted amounts
to the Fund.
All payments received from the Treasurer of
the Commonwealth from the moneys received from taxes paid upon premiums
by foreign casualty insurance companies for purposes of pension retirement
benefits for policemen shall be used as provided by the aforesaid
Act of the General Assembly of July 10, 1957; or as provided in any
future amendment or amendments to said Act. Upon receipt of any such
moneys from the Treasurer of the Commonwealth, the Treasurer of the
Borough shall forthwith pay, or credit, such moneys to the fund hereby
created and shall notify the Board of the amount thereof.
The care, management, investment and disposal
of such money or property, real, personal or mixed, as the Borough
of Kane may take by gift, grant, device or bequest, in trust for the
benefit of the Kane Police Pension Board and shall be governed and
managed by said Board subject to such directions not inconsistent
with this article or with any of the aforesaid Acts of the General
Assembly as the donors of such money or property may prescribe.
Payments from the Fund shall only be made by
direction of the Board. All checks on said fund shall be signed by
the Treasurer of the Borough and countersigned by the Chairman of
the Board.
A.
Normal retirement date. Every member of the Police
Department of the Borough of Kane who has served for an aggregate
period of 25 years, and who has attained the age of 50 years, shall
be eligible for pension benefits from the Fund.
[Amended 12-10-2007 by Ord. No. A-984]
B.
Deferred retirement date. A member, at the request
of Council, may defer retirement from active employment after his
normal retirement date and retire on a deferred retirement date. In
the case of a deferred retirement, the Borough and the member shall
have the right to periodically postpone, for periods not in excess
of one year at a time, the retirement of a member by mutual consent,
in writing. A member must retire upon reaching the age of 65 years.
If retirement is postponed as aforesaid, retirement income shall be
postponed until the member's actual retirement date. The deferred
retirement date of each retiring member whose retirement is deferred
shall be the first day of the calendar month coinciding with or next
following the date on which he terminates active employment.
C.
Disability pension. A member who qualifies for disability
pension shall have a disability retirement date and shall be eligible
for a disability retirement. A member can qualify for a disability
pension if he becomes totally and permanently disabled as the result
of an accident or sickness directly caused by his duties as a member
of the police force. Such member must furnish satisfactory evidence
of such disability before his disability pension payments begin and
he shall furnish such evidence as required by the Committee thereafter,
but not more frequently than once a year. The disability retirement
date of such member shall be the first day of the calendar month coinciding
with or next following the date of which he first submits satisfactory
evidence of such disability. The pension payable upon service-connected
disability shall be 50% of the disabled Member's final three-year
average salary. Any member disabled during his first two years of
employment shall receive 50% of his annual salary if injured during
the first year; or 50% of the average of the first two years' salary
if injured during the second year of employment.
A.
The basis and amount of monthly pension or retirement
benefits to be paid to retired members of the Police Department shall
be 50% of the monthly average salary of such member during the last
36 months of employment (determined by the employee's W-2 wages, including
overtime, longevity pay, etc.). The amount of the pension shall be
computed without regard to any benefits to which the retired member
may be entitled under the Federal Social Security Law. The amount
of said monthly pension so computed shall be increased by an amount
of 4% of the monthly pension benefit for each year over 25 years of
service up to a maximum of $100 per month.
B.
Upon eligibility of any member of the Police Department
to retire from active duty, the Board shall determine and declare
such eligibility and shall direct future monthly payments to such
member of the amount of monthly pension benefits to which he is entitled.
C.
Determination of the monthly pension benefits of each
retired member shall be made by the Board in accordance with the basis
hereinabove provided.
D.
An officer is authorized, in accordance with Act 205
of 1990, to purchase up to five years of military service time as
a credit toward pension service. The formula to calculate the buyback
amount is 10% of the average annual pay for the officer's first 36
months of employment, plus 4.75% interest compounded annually from
the date of hire to the date of payment. There is no minimum amount
of time that must be purchased. Military service must be purchased
prior to retirement, on an after-tax basis.
[Added 12-10-2007 by Ord. No. A-984]
Monthly pension benefits shall begin on the
first day of the month following the member's normal retirement date
and cease with the payment made on the first day of the month following
the member's death. The first payment shall be the proportionate amount
of monthly benefit that represents the period of time from the member's
normal retirement date to the payment date. The last payment shall
be the proportionate amount of monthly benefit that represents the
period of time from the last monthly payment to the member's date
of death.
The spouse of a member of the police force eligible
for retirement, or the spouse of the member of the police force who
had retired on pension and subsequently dies, shall be entitled to
receive a pension in the amount of 50% of the pension the member would
have received or was receiving at the time of the member's death.
The spouse of a member of the police force killed in the line of duty
shall be entitled to receive a pension in the amount of 100% of the
pension the member would have received. The right to receive a pension
shall terminate upon remarriage by the spouse. If no spouse survives
or if the spouse subsequently dies or remarries, then the child or
children of the member under the age of 18 years shall receive the
aforementioned benefits until attaining the age of 18 years. This
section shall be retroactive to January 1, 1999.
Payments under §§ 46-13 and 46-16 shall be adjusted each year, if necessary, to conform to increases in the Consumer Price Index (Philadelphia region). In no case shall the total police pension or disability benefits exceed 75% of the three-year salary average used to compute the amount of benefits to be paid; and the total of all costs of living increases shall not exceed 30% of the members original pension or disability benefit. No costs of living increase shall be granted which would impede the actuarial soundness of the pension fund. This section shall be retroactive to January 1, 1990.
Assets of the Fund hereby created may be invested
by the Board in "legal investments" or "authorized investments" as
defined in the Fiduciaries Investment Act of May 26, 1949, P.L. 1828,[1] as presently amended and supplemented, or as hereafter
amended or supplemented, and shall not be invested in any other manner.
[1]
Editor's Note: See 20 Pa.C.S.A. § 7301
et seq.
No person participating in the Police Pension
Fund established by this article, who becomes entitled to receive
a benefit therefrom, shall be deprived of his right to an equal proportionate
share in said Fund upon the basis upon which he first became entitled
thereto.
Any member of the Police Department of the Borough,
who, for any reason whatsoever, shall be ineligible to receive a pension
from the Fund or who shall cease to be a member of the Police Department
for any reason or in any manner other than pursuant to retirement
from active service in accordance with the terms and provisions of
this article, and the aforesaid Acts of the General Assembly, shall
be entitled to a refund of 100% of the total amount of moneys paid
by him/her to the Fund immediately upon discontinuance of his/her
employment with the Police Department or immediately upon determination
of his/her ineligibility to receive a pension. All such refunds shall
be paid together with the interest at the rate of 6% per annum, compounded
annually. If discontinuance of employment with the Police Department
or ineligibility to receive pension is due to death, refund of such
moneys shall be paid to the beneficiary designated by such member
of the Police Department, or, in the absence of designation of a beneficiary,
to the estate of such deceased member of the Police Department.
Any pension payments, herein provided for, shall
not be subject to attachment, execution, levy, garnishment or other
legal process, and shall be payable only to the retired member of
the Police Department or the designated beneficiary of a member or
the estate of a member or to the widow or minor children of a member
killed in the service of the Borough, as herein above provided, and
shall not be subject to assignment or transfer.
The provisions of this article shall be deemed
to be subject to change, alteration, modification or repeal to comply
with any future provisions of any Act or Acts of the General Assembly
of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania relating to pension benefits for
Members of a police force of a Pennsylvania Borough consisting of
the number of Members employed by the Borough of Kane. This article
shall be deemed to be made and enacted pursuant to and in conformity
with the hereinabove recited Acts of the General Assembly of the Commonwealth
of Pennsylvania of May 29, 1956, and July 10, 1957, or of any amendments
of said Acts hereinafter enacted.
The Kane Police Pension Board shall be deemed
to exist subject to the power and authority of the Council of the
Borough of Kane any decisions or determinations of said Board may
be reviewed by said Council with the right hereby reserved by the
Council to overrule, amend, modify, alter or change any decisions
or determination of said Board in such a manner and to such extent
as may seem proper to the Council.
A.
The pension of any police officer completing 12 years
of total service credited to the service requirements of this article
shall vest at the option of the police officer.
B.
The vesting option shall be exercised after the completion
of 12 years' full-time service, by written notice given by the police
officer within 90 days of the date he ceases to become a full-time
police officer.
C.
A vested member who terminates employment prior to
reaching his normal retirement date, shall be paid a partial retirement
benefit beginning with the first of the month coincident with or next
following what would have been his normal retirement date if he had
continued to be employed as a full-time police officer. The monthly
benefit shall be the retirement benefit calculated using the monthly
average salary (determined by the employee's W-2 wages, including
overtime, longevity pay, etc.) for the appropriate period prior to
the termination of employment multiplied by the ratio of the member's
years of service to date of termination to the years of service the
member would have completed had he continued to work until his normal
retirement date. For purposes of calculating this benefit, years of
service shall be years and completed months of employment.
Such pension or retirement benefits for any
month shall be the sum of clauses (i) (ii) (iii) of Section 5 of the
Act of May 29, 1956 (1955, P.L. 1804, No. 600)[1] from the Police Pension Fund established pursuant to this
Act to the extent necessary to bring the total benefits in any month
up to his partial superannuation retirement allowance outlined above.
[1]
Editor's Note: See 53 P.S. § 767
et seq.
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[The Employees Pension Plan of the Borough
of Kane is on file in the borough offices.]
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