[HISTORY: Adopted by the Borough Council of the Borough of Pennsburg 5-3-1976
by Ord. No. 2-76. Amendments noted where applicable.]
GENERAL REFERENCES
Unified Police Department — See Ch. 14.
As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the meanings
indicated:
- CONTINUOUS SERVICE
- Full-time employment with this municipality, including periods of absence which are approved by the governing body of this municipality or which arise by operation of law.
[Amended 1-2-1996 by Ord. No. 1-96]
A.
The following persons shall be entitled to receive pension
benefits/retirement benefits/service-related disability benefits, as hereinafter
provided:
(1)
Each policeman employed by this municipality on a full-time
basis who shall have 25 years of continuous service with this municipality
and who shall have attained 55 years of age and who shall have received an
honorable discharge.
(2)
Each policeman who has sustained a service-related disability
as provided in the Collective Bargaining Agreement, subject to the provisions
of the Act of May 29, 1956, P.L. 1804, as amended, 53 P.S. § 767
et seq., as amended (hereinafter referred to as "Act 600").
(3)
A policeman's widow, as provided in the Collective
Bargaining Agreement, subject to the provisions of Act 600.
B.
Any member of the police force who has been a regularly
appointed employee of this municipality 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.
[Amended 1-2-1996 by Ord. No. 1-96]
A.
The amount of pension or retirement benefits payable
to any policeman under the Police Pension Program hereby established shall
be a sum equal to 1/2 of the monthly average salary of the participant during
the last 36 months of employment. Such retirement benefits shall be payable
monthly during the balance of the participant's life following actual
retirement, and the benefits for any month shall be computed as the sum of
any pension benefits from pension plans heretofore established by a private
organization or association for the members of the police force but only to
the extent that the commonwealth or any of its municipalities shall have contributed
to such pension plan moneys raised by taxation, 25% of the primary benefits
under federal social security laws from which the participant may be eligible
because of age or disability and benefits from the pension fund established
hereunder to the extent necessary to bring the total benefits in any month
up to 1/2 of the aforesaid monthly average salary. Pension payments made under
the provisions of this chapter shall not be a charge on any other fund in
the treasury of the municipality or under its control save the Police Pension
Fund.
B.
A service-related disability benefit equal to the actuarially
reduced equivalent of his accrued benefit.
A.
Each participant shall contribute monthly into the pension
fund established hereunder an amount equal to the sum of the product determined
by multiplying the total monthly compensation on which social security taxes
are payable by 2.75% plus the product obtained by multiplying the amount of
total monthly compensation in excess of that on which social security taxes
are payable, if any, by 5%. All such contributions by participant shall be
deducted by the municipality from the participant's salary. Any balance
of needed annual contributions shall become the obligation of the municipality
and shall be paid to the pension fund by annual appropriations.
B.
This municipality reserves the right to reduce or eliminate
payments into the fund by participants on an annual basis, by resolution,
if an actuarial study shows that if such payments are reduced or eliminated,
contributions by the municipality will not be required to keep the fund actuarially
sound.
C.
Any payments made by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
to the municipality for police pension purposes shall be used as follows:
(1)
To reduce the unfunded liability of the municipality
on account of pensions payable hereunder, and, after such liability has been
funded;
(2)
To apply against the annual obligation of the municipality
for future service cost, or, to the extent that the payment may be in excess
of such obligation;
(3)
To reduce participants' contributions.
[Amended 1-2-1996 by Ord. No. 1-96]
The municipality shall be the owner of all moneys or property paid into
the fund or annuities or policies purchased from insurance companies hereunder
and the owner of any insurance and retirement income contrasts acquired hereunder,
and no participant prior to retirement shall have any right or interest in
any portion of said moneys or property; provided, however, that each participant
shall be entitled to designate a beneficiary. One-hundred-percent vesting
and accrued benefit shall occur after 12 years of service, with benefits commencing
at normal retirement age, and spouses benefit of 50% of participant's,
payable for life or to spouse's remarriage. Prior to vesting, in the
event of termination or discontinuance of his employment with the municipality
for reasons other than retirement or death, each participant shall be entitled
to have returned to him the total amount of all such moneys paid by him into
the pension fund, with interest at the rate of 4% per annum. Prior to vesting,
if such termination or discontinuance of employment is due to death, such
refund of money shall be paid to the participant's designated beneficiary
or, in the absence thereof, to his estate.
A.
The Police Pension Fund shall be administered in accordance
with the provisions of Act 600 and shall be under the direction of a Police
Pension Committee which shall consist of two members of the Borough Council
of East Greenville, two members of the Borough Council of the Borough of Pennsburg
and two members of the Borough Council of Red Hill, said members to serve
for a period of one year each and to be designated to serve in such capacity
by resolution of the Borough Councils of the three member municipalities.
The members of the Police Pension Committee shall act as Trustees of the pension
fund, and such Trustees shall have full responsibility for the administration
of the program established hereunder and shall hold, invest, reinvest and
distribute all funds or other property received pursuant hereto in trust for
the purposes of this chapter. The Trustees may receive at any time and from
time to time gifts, grants, devises or bequests to the pension fund of any
money or property, real, personal or mixed, to be held by them in trust for
the benefit of this fund and in accordance with the provisions hereof. The
Trustees shall be subject to such rules and regulations as may from time to
time be adopted by the governing body of this municipality by ordinance or
resolution.
[Amended 1-2-1996 by Ord. No. 1-96]
B.
The Trustees shall have full power and authority by a
majority action of its members, either directly or through their designated
representatives, to do all acts, to 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 purposes
of this chapter, including, for purposes of illustration, but not limited
to any and all of the following:
(1)
To hold, invest and reinvest all funds received pursuant
to this chapter in such legal investments as may be authorized as legal investments
under the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
(2)
To enter into contracts or deposit agreements on behalf
of this municipality with one or more insurance companies in order to provide
the pension and other benefits herein set forth, and to pay the premiums and
deposits required by the purchase of said contracts.
(3)
To retain or purchase as an investment any form of annuity
or contracts of similar nature and to exercise with respect thereto any right
or incident of ownership.
(4)
To retain any property which may at any time become an
asset of the fund, as long as said Trustees may deem it advisable.
(5)
To make distribution of the moneys in the fund in accordance
with the terms of this chapter.
A.
The 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 participant or his designated beneficiary.
No participant or his beneficiary shall have any right to alienate, encumber
or assign any assets of the fund held by the Trustees on his behalf nor any
of the benefits or payments or proceeds of any contract or agreement purchased
or acquired by the municipality hereunder.
B.
Any contract or agreement purchased or acquired pursuant
to this chapter upon the life of such participant shall contain a provision,
in substance, that to the extent permitted 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 beneficiary of such participant.
All contracts, agreements or funds held by the municipality for the
purpose of providing pensions, annuities or retirement income, or any of them,
on any policeman who shall be a participant in the program herein established
shall be and hereby are transferred and assigned to the fund herein created.
After such transfer the Police Pension Fund shall assume the liability, if
any, of continuing the payment of pensions to members of the police force
retired prior to such transfer in accordance with the laws and regulations
under which such members were retired.
[Amended 1-2-1996 by Ord. No. 1-96]
The expense of administering this pension fund program, including compensation
of an actuary, any custodian of the fund and any other charges or expenses
related thereto, exclusive of the payment of pensions, shall be paid from
the pension fund.
[Added 1-2-1996 by Ord. No. 1-96]
Any resolutions or ordinances inconsistent with the terms of this chapter
are hereby repealed in their entirety. It is the intent of this chapter to
accurately reflect the terms and conditions of the existing Collective Bargaining
Agreement between the Upper Perk Police District and the full-time officers
who are participants in the pension program.
