A pension plan is hereby established for the
full-time Police employees pursuant to and in compliance with the
Act of May 29th, 1956. P.L. 1804, as amended. Such plan shall be under the direction of the Council
of Jim Thorpe Borough and shall be applied under such regulations
as the Council may prescribe. The effective date of this article shall
be January 1, 1996.
As used in this article, the following terms
shall have the meanings indicated:
COMMITTEE
The persons which may be appointed to serve in an advisory
capacity to the Council in the administration of the plan.
CONTRIBUTIONS
The monies paid by the employer to the plan and/or the payroll deductions made monthly from the salaries of the participants and paid to the plan; except that "contributions" in §
94-9G shall mean total contributions paid by the participant and accumulated during the period of employment and participation in this plan.
COUNCIL
The governing body of the Borough of Jim Thorpe acting in
the capacity of administrator of the Police Employees Pension Plan
established pursuant to this article.
EARLY RETIREMENT DATE
The first day following the date on which the member completes
20 years of service.
[Added 10-8-2009 by Ord. No. 2009-4]
FUTURE SERVICE LIABILITY
The value of any participant's benefits which shall accrue
by virtue of that participant's service rendered subsequent to the
enactment of Ordinance No. 86-2.
PARTICIPANT
Every person duly appointed from time to time by the employer
as a full-time police employee working not less than 35 hours per
week at a definite salary, subject to reasonable vacation and sick
leave, to be included in the plan upon date of hire.
PLAN
The Police Employees Pension Plan established pursuant to
this article.
SALARY
The amount of compensation received by a participant in each
and every month, including base pay, overtime pay, longevity pay,
night differential, and any other such increments. The term "salary"
shall included regular payments made for vacation time, sick time,
compensation time, personal days and bereavement leave but shall not
include lump sum payments for any unused days for any of the foregoing
listed benefits.
SERVICE
Total aggregate service, not necessarily continuous, with
the employer.
TERMINATION
The cessation of service by the participant for any reason
including disability, resignation, and employee termination. Death
shall not be considered a termination within the meaning of this article.
Voluntary leaves of absence without pay shall not be considered a
termination for the purposes of this article; but no period of such
leave shall be computed in the total service for pension benefit purposes.
Leaves of absence with pay shall not be considered a termination within
the meaning of this article (provided that the municipality is able
to certify to the Department of the Auditor General that such participant
on a leave of absence with pay is within the definition of a participant
as set forth herein); but such leaves may be computed in the total
service for pension benefits purposes.
UNFUNDED LIABILITY
The present value of any participant's benefits accrued prior
to the enactment of Ordinance No. 86-2 by virtue of that participant's
prior service.
Upon termination of the plan, the assets shall
be distributed as follows:
A. Sufficient funds shall be maintained to provide the pension benefits prescribed in §
94-9 for all participants who have retired prior to the termination of the plan, or who are eligible to retire at the time of the termination of the plan.
B. Sufficient funds shall be maintained to provided vested pension benefits prescribed in §
94-9 for all participants who are eligible for such benefits.
C. Of the remaining funds, those which can be identified
as contributions of the employer, or contributions other than participant
or from the commonwealth allocations, shall be distributed as the
Council sees fit; provided that such distribution is made on a uniform
basis.
D. All funds in excess of the funds described in Subsections
A,
B, and
C above shall be returned to the commonwealth as unused funds pursuant to the Act or May 12, 1943 P.L. 259, as amended, 72 P.S. § 2263.1 et seq.
All investments by the Council of the assets
of this plan shall comply with any applicable state statutes, rules
and regulations with respect to municipal investments for police pension
funds and with such regulations as the Council shall establish for
the purpose of investing such funds.
The Council reserves the right to amend at any time in whole or in part, any or all of the provisions of the plan; provided that no such amendment shall authorize or permit any part of the plan to be used or diverted to purposes other than for the exclusive benefit of the participants, their beneficiaries, or their estates. Nor shall any amendment divest a participant of benefits vested by the provisions of §
94-9. All such amendments shall comply with the applicable statutes of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
This article repeals all other ordinances and/or
resolutions prior to the date of its enactment which documents established,
maintained, governed, or regulated a pension plan for the police employees
of the Borough of Jim Thorpe, it being further provided that the provisions
of this article are intended to be continuation of those existing
in Ordinance No. 86-2, as amended, to the extent they are consistent herewith.