[Ord. 809-14, 12/22/2014]
As used in this part, the following terms shall have the meanings
indicated:
ACCRUED BENEFIT
As of any given date, the participant's monthly benefit determined in accordance with the formula provided under §
1-1306, Subsection
1, of this part, which amount shall be based upon the participant's years of credited service determined as of such date and which shall represent, as of a given date, the monthly benefit that would be payable at the participant's normal retirement date (or the actuarial equivalent thereof), provided that the participant satisfies any requirements set forth hereafter for entitlement to receive such benefit.
AVERAGE MONTHLY COMPENSATION
The average of the participant's monthly compensation over
the thirty-six-month averaging period immediately preceding the participant's
retirement or other termination of employment.
COMPENSATON
The total compensation paid to the employee within the plan
year.
CONTINUOUS EMPLOYMENT
An employee's period of continuous employment with the employer.
For purposes of this section, an employee's employment shall not be
deemed to have been interrupted by any periods of authorized leave
of absence expressly granted by the employer; nor shall it be deemed
interrupted by any period of absence during which he/she served in
the Armed Forces of the United States of America, provided that the
employee returns to employment with the employer at the time and under
the circumstances required to give him/her reemployment rights under
any federal or state law. In the event an employee does not return
to employment within the specified period or at the end of an authorized
leave of absence, he/she shall be deemed to have terminated employment
when he/she originally left the service of the employer.
EMPLOYER
The Borough of Hamburg, Berks County, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
ENTRY DATE
The first day of the plan year following the completion of
one year of service and attainment of age 21.
FUND
The Borough of Hamburg Nonuniformed Pension Plan Trust Fund.
PARTICIPANT
Any full-time, nonuniformed employee of the employer who meets the requirements set forth in §
1-1304 of this part.
PLAN
The Borough of Hamburg Nonuniformed Pension Plan.
YEAR OF CREDITED SERVICE
A twelve-month period of continuous employment with the employer,
calculated in whole years and completed months of continuous employment.
YEARS OF SERVICE
Each completed twelve-month period of continuous employment
with the employer. Such twelve-month periods shall be measured beginning
on the employee's date of hire and anniversaries thereof. Years of
service shall be expressed in completed years only and shall not take
into account any partial years of fewer than 12 completed months with
respect to any employee.
[Ord. 809-14, 12/22/2014]
1. This plan is to be funded and maintained by any of the following
methods or combinations of each:
A. State aid: funds which are received from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
pursuant to the Municipal Pension Plan Funding Standard and Recovery
Act (known as "Act 205"), which are directed to this plan as approved by the Borough
Council.
B. Borough contributions: contributions from the general fund of the
Borough of Hamburg, as necessary, with appropriate approval by the
Borough Council.
C. Gifts, grants, devises or bequests: the sums which may be received
by the Borough of Hamburg in the form of gifts, grants, devises or
bequests, may to the extent authorized by law, be contributed to the
fund with the approval of the Borough Council.
D. Any other sums received or contributed to the Borough of Hamburg,
to the extent authorized by law and with prior approval of the Borough
Council.
[Ord. 809-14, 12/22/2014]
1. Subject to the control and direction of Borough Council, the Pension
Plan Committee ("Committee"), as appointed by the chief administrative
officer as designated under Act 205, shall have full responsibility for administration of the
plan and fund. The Committee shall hold, invest, reinvest and distribute
all funds and property received pursuant hereto in trust for the purposes
of this part. The Committee may receive at any time, gifts, grants,
devises or bequests to the fund of any money or property, real, personal
or mixed, to be held by the Committee in trust for the benefit of
the fund and in accordance with the provisions hereof. The Committee
shall be subject to such rules and regulations as may from time to
time be adopted by Borough Council through ordinance or resolution.
2. The Committee shall have full power and authority, 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 part, including
for purposes of illustration, but not limited to, any of the following:
A. To hold, invest and reinvest all funds received pursuant to this
part in such investments as may be authorized as legal investments
under the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania;
B. To retain any property which may at any time become an asset of the
fund, as long as the Committee may deem it advisable;
C. To make distribution of the monies in the fund, in accordance with
the terms of this part; and
D. To appoint a trustee or custodian to hold, invest and reinvest plan
funds in accordance with this part. Such trustee or custodian may
be removed or resign by giving 60 days' written notice to the other
party. The Committee shall maintain the authority to oversee and review
the performance of the trustee or custodian both on an investment
and an administrative basis. Plan funds may be invested in pooled
funds designated for employee benefit trust funds.
3. Any administrative expense which is an allowable administrative expense
under Act 205 of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania will be payable from the assets of the fund. If administrative
expenses are not or cannot be paid from the fund, the expense will
be paid by the Borough of Hamburg.
[Ord. 809-14, 12/22/2014]
Each full-time, nonuniformed employee of the Borough of Hamburg
will be eligible to participate on the entry date following the completion
of one year of service and attainment of age 21. No one will be eligible
for this plan if they are police officers, part-time employees or
members of a bargaining unit.
[Ord. 809-14, 12/22/2014]
1. The normal retirement date to receive benefits from the fund shall be the first day of the month coinciding with or next following the 62nd birthday. The normal retirement benefit shall be equal to the amount specified under §
1-1306 of this part.
2. If a participant remains in the employ of the employer subsequent
to the normal retirement date, he/she shall continue to be eligible
to participate hereunder. The late retirement date shall be the first
day of the month coinciding with or next following the date when a
participant actually retires. The late retirement benefit shall be
the greater of:
A. The participant's accrued benefit determined as of the normal retirement
date, actuarially increased to the date of actual retirement, such
that the late retirement benefit shall be the actuarial equivalent
of the normal retirement benefit; or
B. The participant's accrued benefit as of the actual retirement date.
3. The plan will not provide for early retirement benefits.
4. The actuarial equivalent shall be determined using the factors of
six-percent interest and UP-1984 Mortality Table Rates.
[Ord. 809-14, 12/22/2014]
1. The basis for determining the monthly normal retirement benefit to a participant retiring under § 1305, Subsection
1, shall be 1% of the participant's average monthly compensation multiplied by the years of credited service.
2. Such retirement benefit shall be payable from the assets of the fund
established pursuant to this part.
3. The normal form of annuity under the plan is a joint and fifty-percent
survivor annuity. If the participant is not married, the normal form
of annuity is a single life annuity. However, upon retirement, a participant
may elect to receive benefits in a form different than the normally
prescribed annuity form. Any such alternative form must be the actuarial
equivalent of the normal form of annuity. Alternative options include
the following:
A. A life annuity coupled with a guarantee that payments will be made
for a certain period of years, such as five or 10 years;
B. A joint and contingent survivor annuity, whereby the annuity is to
continue to the participant's spouse after the death of the retired
participant as a specified percentage of the annuity being paid while
the participant survived.
[Ord. 809-14, 12/22/2014]
1. If a participant becomes "totally and permanently disabled" (as defined in §
1-1307, Subsection
2), such participant shall be entitled to receive a disability benefit.
2. "Totally and permanently disabled" or "total and permanent disability"
shall mean a condition of physical or mental impairment due to which
a participant is unable to perform any and every duty of a gainful
occupation for which he/she is reasonably fitted through training,
education and experience, which continues for a period of at least
six months and will be permanent and continuous for the remainder
of the participant's lifetime and due to which a participant is certified
by the Social Security Administration as being eligible for social
security disability benefits.
3. Notwithstanding any other provision in this plan, no participant
shall be deemed to be totally and permanently disabled for the purposes
of this plan if his/her incapacity results from chronic alcoholism
or addiction to narcotics, engagement in felonious criminal enterprise,
or resulted from an intentionally self-inflicted injury, or if such
disability was incurred while in the armed services of any country.
4. The employer may require proof of continued disability but not more
frequently than once in any six-month period. If any participant shall
refuse to submit to a medical examination or furnish proof of his
continued disability upon the request of the employer, his disability
payments shall cease.
5. The disability benefit payable hereunder shall be a temporary disability benefit payable from the first of the month coinciding with or immediately following the date when the participant's employment terminates due to total and permanent disability and continuing until the date of the participant's normal retirement date, at which time such disability payments shall cease and the participant's retirement benefit, if any, shall be calculated in accordance with §
1-1306, Subsection
1, of this part on the basis of the participant's years of credited service as of the date when his employment terminated due to total and permanent disability.
6. The amount of the participant's disability benefit provided hereunder
shall be equal to the accrued benefit determined as of the date when
employment terminates due to total and permanent disability. This
disability benefit shall be offset by all of the following:
A. The amount of social security disability payments received by the
participant;
B. The amount of any disability payments received from any other disability
plan to which the employer has contributed; and
C. The amount of any worker's compensation payments received by the
participant.
7. Disability benefits shall immediately cease, however, if prior to
the participant's normal retirement date, the employer determines
that the participant is no longer eligible to receive such benefits.
A participant who ceases to be eligible for disability retirement
benefits may be eligible to receive a deferred vested benefit depending
upon whether he/she had satisfied the eligibility requirements for
same. For any person reemployed subsequent to receiving disability
benefits hereunder, such participant's service shall be determined
as of the date when his/her employment terminated due to total and
permanent disability.
[Ord. 809-14, 12/22/2014]
1. The plan shall provide a preretirement death benefit to the surviving
spouse of an eligible participant who dies prior to retirement while
in the active employ of the employer before becoming eligible to receive
any other benefit under the plan.
2. A preretirement surviving spouse benefit shall be payable if a married
participant dies while in the active service of the employer or at
a time when he/she is eligible to retire on a normal retirement date,
or if such a participant terminates employment with the employer at
a time when he/she is eligible to receive normal retirement benefits
and dies thereafter or prior to the date when benefits commence, then
the spouse of such participant shall be eligible to receive a monthly
benefit. The monthly benefit payable to the spouse shall be equal
to the pension such spouse would have been eligible to receive if
the participant had retired under the normal retirement provisions
of the plan on the first day of the month in which his/her death occurs
with a fifty-percent contingent annuitant option in effect designating
the spouse as contingent annuitant.
3. If a terminated participant shall die after benefit payments commence,
the post- retirement death benefit shall be limited to the form of
benefit payment in force for the participant at the time his/her death
occurs.
[Ord. 809-14, 12/22/2014]
1. A deferred vested benefit shall accrue to a participant who terminates
employment prior to the normal retirement age for any reason other
than retirement. Such participant's vested benefit shall be a percentage
of his/her accrued benefit determined as of such date of termination
and based upon the following vesting schedule:
|
Completed Years of Service
|
Vested Percentage
|
---|
|
0 to 1
|
0%
|
|
2
|
20%
|
|
3
|
40%
|
|
4
|
60%
|
|
5
|
80%
|
|
6
|
100%
|
2. Payments of a participant's vested benefit shall be made from the fund at the date which would have been such participant's normal retirement date. A participant eligible to receive a vested benefit may be permitted to receive such benefit in any form of payment authorized for payment of retirement benefits under §
1-1306, Subsection
3, of this part; provided, however, that he/she may elect an optional form of payment only with the consent of the employer.
3. Notwithstanding the preceding, a participant shall become 100% vested
at his/her normal retirement age.
4. A participant who terminates his/her employment with the employer
at a time when he/she is not vested in any portion of his/her accrued
benefit shall cease to be a participant hereunder and shall not be
entitled to any benefits under the plan. Payment of a participant's
vested retirement benefit depends upon his/her continued survival
to the date of his/her actual retirement on the normal retirement
date hereunder.