[Adopted 5-21-1975 by Ord. No. 681]
Pursuant to the provisions of Act 600 of 1956
of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, as amended, the Borough of Baden
hereby establishes a police pension fund, to be funded by investments
through a master contract with the Pennsylvania Association of Boroughs
under the administration of L. Walter Coble.
The fund is to be maintained by a charge against
each member of the police force, if required, by annual appropriations
made by the Borough of Baden, by payments made by the State Treasurer
to the Borough of Baden Treasurer from the moneys received from taxes
paid on premiums for foreign casualty insurance companies for purposes
of pension for policemen and by gifts, grants, devises or bequests
granted to such pension fund pursuant to the provisions of such act.
Such police pension fund shall be under the
direction of the Council of the Borough of Baden and shall be applied
under such regulations as the Council of the Borough of Baden may,
by ordinance or resolution, prescribe for the benefit of such members
of the Borough of Baden police force.
The Borough of Baden is hereby authorized to
take by gift, grant, devise or bequest, any money or property, real,
personal or mixed, in trust, for the benefit of such fund and the
care, management, investment and disposal of such trust funds or property
shall be invested in the Borough of Baden Council, the person, agent
and the company having the management of such police pension fund,
and the said trust funds shall be governed thereby subject to such
directions not inconsistent therewith as the donors of such funds
and property may prescribe.
Each police officer who shall on the effective
date of this article or thereafter be employed by the Borough on a
full-time basis after serving six months probationary period shall
be eligible to be and shall be a participant in the police pension
program herein established.
[Amended 10-20-1982 by Ord. No. 738]
A.
Each retired participant shall be entitled to receive
a pension, payable in equal monthly installments during his lifetime
in an amount equal to 1/2 the average monthly gross compensation,
including overtime, of the participant paid by the employer during
the last 36 months immediately preceding the date of retirement, reduced
by 75% of the amount of any primary benefits under the federal Social
Security Law for which the participant may be eligible because of
age.
B.
In addition to said pension, each retired participant
shall receive, upon retirement, a guarantee that the Borough shall,
upon the death of said retired participant, pay the sum of $2,000
to the individual or individuals designated by said retired participant.
C.
The Council of the Borough of Baden shall have the
authority to provide by resolution for a cost-of-living increase for
certain members of the police force receiving retirement benefits;
provided, however, that such cost-of-living increase shall not exceed
the percentage increase in the Consumer Price Index from the year
in which the police member last worked; provided, further, that in
no case shall the total police pension benefits exceed 75% of the
salary for computing retirement benefits; and provided, further, that
the total cost-of-living increase shall not exceed 30%. No cost-of-living
increase shall be granted which would impair the actuarial soundness
of the pension fund.
Retired participants shall be subject to service
from time to time as a police reserve, in cases of riot, tumult or
preservation of the public peace, until determined by the Council
to be unfit for such service, when they may be finally discharged
by reason of age or disability.
The widow of a member of the police force or
a member who retires on pension who dies or, if no widow survives
or if she survives and subsequently dies or remarries, the child or
children under the age of 18 years of a member of the police force,
or a member who retires on pension who dies after the effective date
of this article, shall, during her lifetime or so long as she does
not remarry in the case of a widow or until reaching the age of 18
years in the case of a child or children, be entitled to receive a
pension calculated at the rate of 50% of the pension the member was
receiving or would have been receiving had he been retired at the
time of his death.
Any member of the police force employed by the
Borough of Baden who has been a regular appointed employee of the
Borough of Baden for a period of at least six months and who thereafter
shall enter into the military service of the United States shall have
credited to his employment record for pension or retirement benefits
all of the time spent by him in such military service, if such person
returns or has heretofore returned to his employment within six months
after his separation from the service.
A.
If the participant is insurable, the Borough shall
purchase pension life insurance as an incidental death benefit for
such participant, the purpose of said purchase being primarily to
fund the pension program.
B.
Said participant shall be insured in an amount as
determined from time to time by Council, payable to his beneficiary.
The participant shall have the right to name and change his beneficiary.
The Council shall have full power and authority
by majority action either directly or through its designated representatives
to do all acts; execute, acknowledge and deliver all instruments;
and to exercise for the sole benefit of the participants hereunder
any and all powers and discretions necessary to implement and effectuate
the purpose of this article, including for purposes of illustration
but not limitation any and all of the following: to hold, invest and
reinvest in such real or personal property as it deems advisable,
and as permitted by law, all funds received pursuant to this chapter;
to enter into contracts or deposit agreements on behalf of this Borough
with one or more insurance companies in order to provide pensions
and other benefits hereinbefore set forth and to pay the premiums
and deposits required by the purchase of such contracts; to retain
or purchase as an investment any form of life insurance or annuity
or contracts of similar nature and to exercise with respect hereto
any right or incident of ownership, providing its primary purpose
is the funding of pensions with assets of the police pension fund
authorized by Act 600 of 1956; to retain any property which may at
any time become an asset of the fund as long as Council may deem it
advisable; and to make distribution of the funds in the fund in accordance
with the terms of this article; provided, however, that Council's
exercise of its power to acquire or purchase any contracts or agreements
which provide annuity or death benefits shall be in conformity with
a uniform standard and nondiscriminatory as between participants hereunder.
The Borough shall be the owner of all moneys
or property paid into or acquired by the fund or deposited with insurance
companies hereunder and the owner of all insurance, annuity, retirement
income or similar contracts acquired hereunder, and no participant
prior to retirement, permanent injury or disability or death shall
have any right or interest in any portion of said moneys, property,
deposits or contracts except as and to the extent required by any
applicable law; provided, however, that each participant shall be
entitled, in the event of termination of his employment with the Borough
for reasons other than retirement, permanent injury or disability
or death, to have returned to him the total amount of his contributions
to the fund herein created plus interest at the rate of 4% per annum.
No participant or beneficiary of a participant
shall have any right to alienate, encumber or assign any assets of
the fund held by the Trustees on his behalf or any of the benefits
or payments or proceeds or avails of any contract or agreement purchased
or acquired by the Borough hereunder. Any contract or agreement purchased
or acquired pursuant to this article shall contain provision, in substance,
that, to the extent provided by law, none of the benefits or payments
or proceeds of such contract or agreement shall be subject to any
legal process by any creditor of such participant or any beneficiary
of such participant.
A.
The Borough reserves to itself the right to transfer
or assign to any pension or other employee benefit plan or program
which the Borough may be required by the laws of the Commonwealth
of Pennsylvania to establish for participants in the program herein
established, all funds, contracts, agreements or other property held
by the Borough for the purpose of providing the benefits of said program
for such participant who may be included in such mandatory pension
or retirement income plan or program, and all rights and benefits
conferred upon police officers of the Borough by this article shall
be subject to the limitations of this section.
B.
The Council reserves the right at any time and from
time to time to alter and amend any or all of the provisions of this
article.
[Amended 10-20-1982 by Ord. No. 738]
Members shall pay into the fund, monthly, an
amount equal to not less than 2.75% nor more than 5% of monthly gross
compensation, including overtime, said amounts to be eliminated if
an actuarial study shows that said contributions are not required
to keep the fund actuarially sound. The remainder of the needed annual
contributions, as determined by an actuary, shall become the obligation
of the Borough and shall be paid by it to the pension fund by annual
appropriations.
In the event that a participant at the time
of retirement is entitled to vacation benefits, the participant shall
have the option of using his vacation time prior to the date of retirement
or receiving a lump sum payment equivalent to his vacation period
at the time of retirement.
