[Ord. 159, 11/20/1995, § 1]
There is hereby established in accordance with the provisions
of the Act of Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, approved
the 29th day of May, 1956, P.L. 1804, known as Act No. 600, its amendments
and supplements ("Act 600"), a Police Pension Plan and Fund for the
benefit of all full-time members of the police force of Lower Heidelberg
Township. The pension plan shall be known as "The Lower Heidelberg
Township Police Pension Plan" and the pension fund shall be known
as "The Lower Heidelberg Township Police Pension Fund", hereinafter
referred to as "the Plan" and "the Fund", respectively.
[Ord. 159, 11/20/1995, § 1]
The Board of Supervisors of Lower Heidelberg Township (the "Board
of Supervisors") shall designate a Chief Administrative Officer of
the Police Pension Plan and Fund at its reorganization meeting. The
Chief Administrative Officer shall be responsible for the administration,
management, operation and application of the Plan and Fund including
but not limited to those responsibilities placed upon it by the Municipal
Pension Plan Funding Standard and Recovery Act, 53 P.S. § 895.101,
et seq. ("Act 205"). In the absence of such designation, the Chief
Administrative Officer of Lower Heidelberg Township shall automatically
serve as the Chief Administrative Officer of the Police Pension Plan
and Fund. The Chief Administrative Officer shall be subject to such
regulations as may from time to time be established by the Board of
Supervisors regarding the care, investment and disposal of any money
or property received by Lower Heidelberg Township for the benefit
of the Police Pension Plan and Fund, not inconsistent with this Ordinance
and applicable law.
[Ord. 159, 11/20/1995, § 1]
The Board of Supervisors shall receive from Lower Heidelberg
Township's Treasurer any allocations received by Lower Heidelberg
Township from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, or any subdivision
thereof, from Lower Heidelberg Township itself, from police officers
and from gifts, grants, devises or bequests made pursuant to Section
404 of this Chapter, and shall invest such sums in the manner it deems
most beneficial to the Fund so as to provide retirement and other
benefits as shall be required by law, or by this Ordinance, or as
shall be established from time to time by resolution of the Board
of Supervisors.
[Ord. 159, 11/20/1995, § 1]
Lower Heidelberg Township shall be authorized to take by gift,
grant, devise or bequest, any money or property, real, personal or
mixed, for the benefit of the Plan and the Fund, and the care, management,
investment and disposal of such fund or property shall be vested in
the Chief Administrative Officer, and the said fund shall be governed
thereby subject to such directions not inconsistent therewith as the
donors of such fund and property may prescribe.
[Ord. 159, 11/20/1995, § 1; as amended by Ord.
177, 8/18/1997, § 1]
(a)
Age and Service. All full-time police officers of Lower Heidelberg
Township shall participate in the Lower Heidelberg Township Police
Pension Plan and Fund from the date of employment with the Lower Heidelberg
Township Police Force and shall be eligible to retire upon 25 years
of service in Lower Heidelberg Township or upon attaining the age
of 55 years, whichever shall be later. Full-time employment requires
at least 40 hours of service per week. Such members as are retired
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
unfitted for such service, when they may be finally discharged by
reason of age or disability.
(b)
Military Service. Any member of the Police Force who has been a regularly
appointed employee of Lower Heidelberg Township 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 employee returns or has heretofore
returned to his employment within six months after his separation
from service.
(c)
Ineligibility for Military Service Credits. Any member of the Police Force shall be eligible to receive service credit for intervening military service as provided in Subsection (b) above, provided, that he is not entitled to receive, eligible to receive now or in the future, or is receiving retirement benefits for such service under a retirement system administered and wholly or partially paid for by any other governmental agency with the exception of a member eligible to receive or receiving military retirement pay earned by a combination of active duty and nonactive duty with a reserve or national guard component of the armed forces which retirement pay is payable only upon the attainment of a specified age and period of service under 10 U.S.C. Ch. 67 (relating to retired pay for non-regular service).
[Ord. 159, 11/20/1995, § 1]
(a)
Upon retirement a police officer shall receive a monthly pension
equal to 1/2 of his/her average monthly salary for the last 60 months
of employment prior to his or her retirement. The benefits payable
under this provision shall be based upon straight life annuity payable
only until the death of the retiree and shall be computed in accordance
with the provisions of Act 600.
(b)
The term "salary", as used in this section and in this Ordinance,
shall mean all compensation for which payroll deductions have been
required and withheld for payment into the Fund. It is the intention
of Lower Heidelberg Township that the pension benefits to be paid
under this Ordinance shall be consistent with the statutory and decisional
law of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania at the time a police officer
is first entitled to receive such benefits.
(c)
Lower Heidelberg Township hereby establishes length of service increments
for years of service beyond 25 years for each completed year of service
in excess of 25 years, at the rate of $15 per month per year, but
not to exceed the sum of $100 per month. Such length of service increments
shall be paid in addition to other monthly pension or retirement allowances.
(d)
The Fund hereby provides for a cost-of-living increase for police
officers of the Police Force receiving retirement benefits at the
rate of 1% for every 3% increase in the Consumer Price Index; 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
officer has 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 Fund.
[Ord. 159, 11/20/1995, § 1]
A vested benefit as described in this section is hereby authorized
provided such vested benefit does not impair the actuarial soundness
of the Fund.
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Under the provisions of such benefit, should a police officer,
before completing superannuation retirement age and service requirements
but after having completed 12 years of total service, for any reason
cease to be employed as a full-time police officer by the Township,
he or she shall be entitled to vest his or her retirement benefits
by filing with the Board of Supervisors within 90 days of the date
he or she ceases to be a full-time police officer, a written notice
of his or her intention to vest. Upon reaching the date which would
have been his or her superannuation retirement date if he or she had
continued to be employed as a full-time police officer, he or she
shall be paid a partial superannuation retirement allowance determined
by applying the percentage his or her years of service bears to the
years of service which he or she would have rendered had he or she
continued to work until his or her superannuation retirement date
to the gross pension established by Section 406 of this Chapter using,
however, the monthly average salary during the appropriate period
prior to his or her termination of employment. Such pension or retirement
benefits for any month shall be the sum of subsections (a) through
(c) of Section 406 of this Chapter to the extent necessary to bring
the total benefits in any month up to his or her partial superannuation
retirement allowance as outlined herein. It is the intention of this
section to provide a vested benefit as and to the extent authorized
by Act 1979-99."
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[Ord. 159, 11/20/1995, § 1; as amended by Ord.
177, 8/18/1997, § 2; by Ord. 231, 6/16/2003, § 1;
by Ord. 271, 9/17/2007, § 1]
If, before a police officer shall have attained retirement age,
the employment of such police officer with Lower Heidelberg Township
shall be terminated by reason of service-connected disability of such
police officer, as determined by a qualified physician designated
by the Board of Supervisors, such police officer shall be entitled
to receive in lieu of, and not in addition to, the normal monthly
retirement benefits, a monthly disability pension equal to 75% of
his current monthly compensation of such police officer as of the
date of occurrence of such disability, offset by any Social Security
disability benefits received by such police officer for the same injury.
[Ord. 159, 11/20/1995, § 1; as amended by Ord.
231, 6/16/2003, § 2]
The Plan and Fund established by this Ordinance shall be funded
in the following order:
(a)
By payments made by the State Treasurer to the Lower Heidelberg Township
Treasurer from the money received from taxes paid upon premiums by
foreign casualty insurance companies for purposes of pension retirement
for police officers; and
(b)
By monthly charge against each member of the force in an amount equal
to not less than 5% nor more than 8% of his/her monthly compensation.
Where positions covered by the Fund are included in an agreement under
the Federal Social Security Act, the provisions of 53 P.S. § 772
shall apply. The Board of Supervisors may, on an annual basis, by
ordinance or resolution, reduce or eliminate payments into the Fund
by the members of the police force; and
(c)
When necessary, by annual appropriations made by Lower Heidelberg
Township.
[Ord. 159, 11/20/1995, § 1]
Any member of the police force who, for any reason whatsoever,
shall be ineligible to receive a pension after having contributed
to the Fund established pursuant to the provisions of this Ordinance,
shall, immediately upon discontinuance of his/her employment with
the police force, be entitled to a refund of all such monies paid
by him/her into the Fund plus all interest earned on such monies while
in the Fund. If such discontinuance is due to death, such money shall
be paid to his/her designated beneficiary or, in the absence thereof,
to his/her estate.
[Ord. 159, 11/20/1995, § 1; as amended by Ord.
231, 6/16/2003, § 3]
(a)
In the event a police officer shall die in the performance of his
or her duties (which such event is specifically identified and defined
in Act 51 of 2009, 53 P.S. § 891 et seq.) (hereinafter the
"Act"), the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania shall provide payment of
a killed-in-service benefit in accordance with the Act. This killed-in-service
benefit shall be offset by any workers' compensation, pension
or retirement benefits paid to or received by the surviving spouse
or dependents.
[Amended by Ord. No. 353, 8/21/2017]
(b)
The surviving spouse of a member of the police force who is not killed
in service, or a member who retires on pension who dies, or if no
spouse survives or if he or she survives and subsequently dies, or
remarries on or prior to April 17, 2002, then the child or children
under the age of 18 years, or the child or children from the ages
of 18 and 23 years of age who is attending college, of a member of
the police force, or a member who retires on pension, shall, during
his or her lifetime so long as he or she does not remarry on or prior
to April 17, 2002 in the case of a spouse, or until reaching the age
of 18 years in the case of a child or children, or until reaching
the age of 23 years in the case of a child or children attending college,
be entitled to receive a pension calculated at the rate of 50% of
the pension the member was receiving or would have been receiving
at the time of his or her death.
[Ord. 159, 11/20/1995, § 1]
Such of the foregoing benefits as are provided through insurance
policies shall be subject to any customary conditions or exclusions
of such policies.
[Ord. 159, 11/20/1995, § 1]
Payments made under the provisions of this Ordinance shall be
made to the Fund, herein provided for, within 30 days of receipt of
any appropriations thereto, or monies received from the Treasurer
of the Commonwealth or gifts granted to the Fund. The Board of Supervisors
shall allocate the contributions from the State Treasurer in accordance
with Act 205.
[Ord. 159, 11/20/1995, § 1]
The Board of Supervisors shall employ an actuary and may fix
his or her compensation. The expenses of the administration of this
Ordinance, including the compensation of an actuary, shall be paid
by the Fund.
[Ord. 159, 11/20/1995, § 1]
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 member entitled thereto and shall
not be subject to assignment or transfer.
[Ord. 159, 11/20/1995, § 1]
The Lower Heidelberg Township Police Pension Plan and Fund established
by this Ordinance may be discontinued or modified according to law
by an ordinance duly enacted by the Board of Supervisors.
[Ord. 159, 11/20/1995, § 1]
Any police officer whose retirement and pension rights are vested
by virtue of any previous ordinance of Lower Heidelberg Township establishing
a police pension plan and fund shall be governed by the terms and
conditions of said prior pension plan and fund.
[Ord. 159, 11/20/1995, § 1]
Should any section or provision of this Ordinance be declared
by any court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid, such decision
shall not affect the validity of this Ordinance as a whole, or any
part thereof.
