[Adopted 6-11-1997 by Ord. No. 1997-8]
In accordance with and pursuant to the provisions of the Act
of June 23, 1931, P.L. 932, Art. XLIII, Section 4230 et seq., as amended,[1] there is hereby created in the City a pension fund to
be designated as the "Paid Firemen's Pension Fund," for the purpose
of providing pensions to the members of such fund and to such other
beneficiaries as shall be specified in this article. Such fund shall
receive property and funds and shall hold and distribute funds for
the purpose and benefit of the members and other beneficiaries of
the fund.
[1]
Editor's Note: See 53 P.S. § 39320 et seq.
For the purpose of this article, the following words and phrases
shall have the meanings respectively ascribed to them by this section,
unless the context clearly requires otherwise:
Children of a member or of a deceased member, but limited
to children who are under 18 years of age.
The Paid Firemen's Pension Fund.
A person employed by the City as a paid and uniformed member
of the Bureau of Fire.
Upon eligible retirement from the Fire Department, a firefighter
will be entitled to a pension of 50% of his earnings based on:
[Amended 12-12-2001 by Ord. No. 2001-4; 1-20-2021 by Ord. No. 1-2021]
The higher of the firefighter's average of the highest five
years of annual gross payroll as taken from the City's payroll reports,
less any vacation buyback, sick day buyback, and compensatory pay;
or
The total gross payroll amount paid to the firefighter during
the last complete calendar month worked prior to retirement. The total
gross payroll amount paid during the last complete calendar month
worked prior to retirement includes salary but specifically excludes
vacation buyback, sick day buyback, and compensatory pay. The total
gross payroll amount is not based on the number of paychecks received
in the month, but rather the number of days actually worked and the
salary received for working those days.
The definition of the term "salary" shall be either of the
following two definitions:
[Amended 12-12-2001 by Ord. No. 2001-4]
MONTHLY SALARYThe total taxable amount paid to an employee during any calendar month. This would include the regular fixed scheduled salary (all W-2 wages), but specifically excludes other taxable pay such as vacation buyback, sick day buyback, compensatory pay and personal leave pay.
FIVE-YEAR AVERAGE EARNINGSThe average of the highest five years of annual earnings as taken from the employee's W-2 wages less any vacation buyback, sick day buyback, compensatory pay and personal leave pay.
[Amended 7-17-2013 by Ord. No. 2013-8; 3-19-2014 by Ord. No.
2014-2]
A.Â
Establishment.
The paid Firemen's Pension Fund shall be under the direction and control
of a Board of Managers, composed of both voting and nonvoting members.
B.Â
Composition:
C.Â
Method
of appointment.
(1)Â
City
Council member. The City Council shall designate its member by resolution.
(2)Â
Bureau
of Fire members. Of the first Managers so chosen by the Bureau of
Fire, one shall be chosen for a term of two years and one for a term
of four years. Biennially thereafter, one Manager shall be chosen
for a term of four years to take the place of the Manager whose term
expires. In the case of a vacancy among the Managers chosen by the
members of the Bureau of Fire, a successor shall be chosen by such
members for the remainder of the unexpired term.
A.Â
The paid Firemen's Pension Fund shall be applied under such regulations
as the Board of Managers shall prescribe. It shall be the duty of
the Board of Managers to present to the City Council, annually, a
detailed statement of its assets and liabilities on or before the
first meeting of the City Council in February of the following year.
The Board of Managers shall have authority to do all things necessary
to provide an effective and a financially sound fund and incur such
expenses as it deems appropriate for such purposes.
B.Â
The Board of Managers of the City of Pittston Paid Firemen's Pension
Fund shall control, direct and be responsible for the administration
of the said Pittston Firemen's Pension Fund; however, the said Firemen's
Pension Fund Association will be committed to the custody and management
of the trustee or trustees designated herein. The said trustee is
to manage the fund in the best interest and welfare of the said fund
and to be entitled to reasonable compensation for their said management
to be paid from the general fund of the City of Pittston.
The City may take, by gift, grant, devise or bequest, any money
or property, real, personal or mixed, for the benefit of the Paid
Firemen's Pension Fund. In such cases, the City shall observe all
and singular the conditions and directions of the donors, and such
property shall be administered by such of the Board of Managers who
are officers of the City. Unless there is a specific ordinance adopted
with reference to such gift, grant, devise or bequest, the same shall
be transferred by such officer to the fund.
If any funds under this article are invested, they shall be
invested in accordance with the provisions of the Fiduciaries Investment
Act of 1949, and the amendments thereto.
All members on January 1, 1969, and all subsequently employed
members shall be considered members of the Paid Firemen's Pension
Fund.
[Amended 7-17-2013 by Ord. No. 2013-8; 5-17-2017 by Ord. No. 2017-3; 3-21-2018 by Ord. No. 1-2018; 1-20-2021 by Ord. No. 1-2021]
Employees hired prior to January 1, 2017, shall contribute to
the pension fund 3% of their wages in 2021; 4% in 2022; and 5% in
2023 and every year after. Employees hired after January 1, 2017,
shall contribute 4% in 2021 and 5% in 2022 and every year after.
The City Council shall appropriate an amount of money sufficient
to keep the fund actuarially sound.
A.Â
The Paid Firemen's Pension Fund shall be applied, under such regulations
as the Board of Managers shall prescribe, for the benefit of such
members of the Bureau of Fire as shall receive honorable discharge
therefrom by reason of service or age or disability, widows of retired
members, and the families of such as may be killed or who die in the
service. All such pensions as shall be allowed to those who are retired
by reason of the disabilities or of service or age shall be in conformity
with a uniform scale, together with service increments as hereinafter
provided. Benefits allowed from such fund to families of such as are
killed or who die in service shall take into consideration the member's
widow and his minor children under 18 years of age, if any survive.
B.Â
Such regulations shall prescribe a minimum period of continuous service
not less than 20 years, after which members of the Bureau of Fire
may be retired or elect to be retired on pension from active duty,
and such members as are retired shall be subject to service, from
time to time, as a firemen's reserve in cases of emergency until unfitted
for such service, when they may be finally discharged by reason of
age or disability. Upon the death of a member who retires on pension
or who could have retired on pension, or is killed or dies in the
service, payments as provided in this article shall be made to his
widow during her life; and if there be no widow, but there are children
eligible, payment shall be made to them until such children reach
age 18.
C.Â
It is further enacted that, in addition to the vesting of said pension
as outlined above, there is established a vested benefit wherein an
employee may be eligible for vested benefits if he has completed 12
years of total service and must have filed written notice with the
municipality of the intention to vest within 90 days after termination.
Further, the City, through its trustees, will be responsible for the
accuracy of the vested pension benefit payable upon an employee's
superannuation retirement date. The calculation of pension shall be
based on the percentage of years as it relates to the standard vesting
period of 20 years. The employee should be entitled to a vested pension
based on the pro rata share of years vested.
D.Â
Firefighters
hired after January 1, 2021, shall be eligible to retire upon completing
20 years of service with the City and shall be a minimum of 55 years
of age in order to collect full retirement benefits.
[Added 1-20-2021 by Ord. No. 1-2021]
E.Â
For all
firefighters hired after January 1, 2021, if a firefighter predeceases
his/her spouse, survivor benefits shall be reduced from 100% to 50%
of the monthly pension benefit the employee was eligible to receive.
[Added 1-20-2021 by Ord. No. 1-2021]
A.Â
Payments of pension shall not be a charge on any fund in the treasury of the City or under its control, save the Firemen's Pension Plan herein provided for in the definitions of "salary" and "pension calculation." The basis of the pension of a member shall be determined by the monthly salary of the member at the date of retirement or the highest average annual salary which he received during any five years of service preceding retirement, whichever is the higher, whether for disability or by reason of age or service, and, except as to service increments provided for in Subsection B of this section, shall be 1/2 the annual salary of such member at the time of retirement computed at such monthly or average annual rate, whichever is higher.
(1)Â
In the case of the payment of pensions to members for permanent injury
incurred in service, and to families of members killed or who die
in service, the amount and commencement of the payment of the pension
shall be fixed by regulations of the Board. Such regulations shall
not take into consideration the amount and duration of workmen's compensation
allowed by law. Payments to widows of members retired on pension or
killed in the service on or after January 1, 1960, or who die in the
service on or after January 1, 1968, shall be the amount payable to
the member or which would have been payable had he been retired at
the time of his death.
B.Â
In addition to the pension which is authorized to be paid from the
Firemen's Pension Fund by this article and notwithstanding the limitation
therein placed upon such pensions and upon contributions, every contributor
who shall become entitled to the pension shall also be entitled to
the payment of a service increment in accordance with and subject
to the conditions hereinafter set forth.
(1)Â
The service increment shall be the sum obtained by computing the
number of whole years after having served the minimum required by
this article during which a contributor has been employed by such
City and paid out by the City treasury and multiplying the said number
of years so computed by an amount equal to one-fortieth of the retirement
allowance which has become payable to such contributor in accordance
with the provisions of this article. In computing the service increment,
no employment after the contributor has reached the age of 65 years
shall be included, and no service increment shall be paid in excess
of $100 per month.
(2)Â
Each contributor, from and after the effective date of this article,
shall pay into the pension fund a monthly sum in addition to his pension
contribution, which shall not exceed the sum of $1 per month, provided
that such service increment contribution shall not be paid after a
contributor has reached the age of 65 years.
(3)Â
Any person who is a member of the Department on the effective date
of this article who has already reached the age of 65 years shall
have his service increment computed on the years of employment prior
to the date of reaching his 65 birthday.
(4)Â
Service increment contributions shall be paid at the same time and
in the same manner as pensions and may be withdrawn in full, without
interest, by persons who leave the employment of such City, subject
to the same conditions by which retirement contributions may be withdrawn,
or by persons who retire before becoming entitled to any service increment.
(5)Â
All members of the Bureau of Fire who are not contributors to the
pension fund and all those employed by the City after the effective
date of this article, if required to become contributors to the pension
fund, shall be subject to the provisions of this article.
If for any cause any member of the Bureau of Fire contributing
to the pension fund shall cease to be a member of the Bureau of Fire
before he becomes entitled to a pension, the total amount of the contributions
paid into the pension fund by such member shall be refunded to him
in full without interest. If any such member shall have returned to
him the amount contributed and shall afterward again become a member
of the Bureau of Fire, he shall not be entitled to the pension designated
until 20 years after his reemployment, unless he shall return to the
pension fund the amount withdrawn, in which event the period of 20
years shall be computed from the time the member first became a member
of the Bureau of Fire, excluding therefrom any period of time during
which the member was not employed by the Bureau of Fire. In the event
of the death of a member of the Bureau of Fire not in the line of
service before the member becomes entitled to the pension aforesaid
and such member is not survived by a widow or family entitled to payments
as hereinbefore provided, the total amount of contributions paid into
the pension fund by the member shall be paid over to his estate. In
case of the death of a member not in the line of service before the
member becomes entitled to the pension aforesaid and such member is
survived by a widow eligible to receive benefits as hereinbefore provided,
the total amount of contributions paid into the pension fund by a
member shall be paid over to such widow.
All pensions granted under this article, and every portion thereof,
shall not be subject to pledge, assignment, or transfer and shall
be exempt from attachment and shall not be seized, taken or subject
to detainer or levied upon by virtue of an execution or any process
or proceeding whatsoever.
[Amended 7-17-2013 by Ord. No. 2013-8]
Payments of pensions under this article shall not be a charge
on any fund in the treasury of the City or under its control, save
the Paid Firemen's Pension Fund provided for in this article. The
City Council shall, upon recommendation of the Board of Managers,
and in accordance with Act 44 of 2009, appoint a trustee by resolution
for the Paid Firemen's Pension Plan to receive from the City any allocation
received by the City of Pittston from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania,
from the City of Pittston itself, from the Bureau of Fire employees
and from gifts, grants, devises, or bequests made pursuant to this
article and shall invest such funds in the manner it deems beneficial
to the fund so as to provide retirement and other benefits as shall
be required by the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and this
article where it shall be established from time to time by resolution
of the City Council.
[Added 2-16-2000 by Ord. No. 2000-1]
A.Â
The City Council of the City of Pittston hereby ordains and authorizes
to provide a one-time one-hundred-dollar-per-month ad hoc cost-of-living
increase to the pension benefits of the current retired members under
the plan.
B.Â
The total of any such allowances shall not at any time exceed 1/2
of the current salary being paid firemen of the highest pay grade.
