[Approved 10-17-1967 by Ch. No. 1135 as Secs. 11-2 through 11-14 of the 1966 Code; amended in its entirety 12-15-2006 by Ch. No. 2836]
Pursuant to authority granted by Chapter 1007
of the Public Laws of 1913, a pension list and a pension fund77 are
hereby created and established for permanent members of the paid Fire
Division of the City.
The City Council may place upon the pension
list permanent members of the paid Fire Division who by reason of
age, physical or mental infirmity, injuries sustained or illness incurred
while in the performance of duty, or for other cause, have become
unable or unfit to perform active duty.
Any permanent member of the paid Fire Division
who has been regularly employed as a member of the Fire Division for
at least 25 years may have his or her name placed upon the pension
list upon his or her written request to the City Council, which shall
thereupon order the name placed upon the pension list.
Members on the pension list shall be subject
to all rules of the Fire Division as to conduct and shall report to
the Chief of the Fire Division on the first business day of each month.
The chief of the Fire Division may at any time call upon members on
the pension list for temporary regular fire duty, and for such service
they shall receive full pay at the rate then paid regular members
of the Division for similar work. During the term of such temporary
actual fire duty, such pensioned members shall not be entitled to
any compensation from the pension fund.
The Director of Finance is hereby authorized
and directed to place in the pension fund:
A.
One percent of the wages due each permanent member
of the paid Fire Division, to be deducted by him or her from each
payroll.
B.
All fines and penalties imposed according to law and
certified to him or her by the clerk of the Fire Division. It is hereby
made a duty of the clerk to deliver such fines and penalties to the
Director of Finance.
C.
All sums charged against any of the members absent
from duty where no substitute has been employed in his or her place,
provided that such absence was not caused by illness. It is hereby
made a duty of the clerk of the Fire Division to deliver such charges
to the Director of Finance.
D.
All fees received from services rendered by firemen
in the theaters, moving-picture houses, dance halls and places of
amusement in the City.
E.
All donations, contributions and receipts from any
source that may be made or received on account of or for the benefit
of the fund.
Whenever the pension fund shall be insufficient
to pay the pensions to the members entitled thereto, the City Council
shall appropriate from time to time such additional sums as may be
required to carry out the intent and provisions of this article.
The Director of Finance shall be the custodian
of the Firefighters' Pension Fund, which shall be kept separate and
apart from other funds. The Director of Finance may invest, reinvest,
and change the form of investment of the fund subject to the approval
of the Committee on Finance of the City Council.
Any permanent member of the paid Fire Division
placed on the pension list shall receive thereafter during his or
her lifetime, unless as otherwise provided, a pension equivalent to
1/2 the compensation he or she was receiving at the time he or she
was placed upon the pension list, which shall be paid monthly.
A member on the pension list shall not be required
to pay any assessment to the pension fund from the date his or her
name was placed upon the list.
Any member of the Fire Division who shall resign
or be discharged therefrom shall thereupon forfeit all claim to any
payment or allowance of any kind from the pension fund and to the
payments theretofore made by him or her to the pension fund.
The City Council may, after a hearing, discontinue
the pension payments to any member on the pension list for such cause
as the City Council may deem sufficient.
Pensions shall not be transferable nor subject
to attachment and shall be paid to the member entitled thereto, except
that they may be regulated and arranged by the City Council and paid
so that they will be best appropriated to the use and benefit of the
person on the pension list.
The City Council is hereby empowered to make
such rules and regulations not inconsistent with the provisions of
this article as may be deemed best for governing the pension list
and payments.
