[1]
Editor's Note: This ordinance restated the pension plan, as restated effective 1-1-2003 by Ord. No. 732, and reincorporated provisions of Ord. No. 618 relating to the Police Pension Board and the pension plan.
This ordinance specifically restates and replaces all other ordinances or parts of ordinances which established the Police Pension Plan with the Borough of Columbia Police Pension Plan restated January 1, 2003, attached hereto and incorporated herein as Exhibit A.[1]
[1]
Editor's Note: Exhibit A is on file in the office of the Borough Clerk.
[Amended 1-8-2019 by Ord. No. 909; 10-25-2022 by Ord. No. 942-2023]
This ordinance establishes the Borough of Columbia Police Pension Plan restated January 1, 2008, for the uniformed employees of Columbia Borough through the adoption of the Borough of Columbia Police Pension Plan restated January l, 2008, attached hereto and incorporated herein as Exhibit A, effective January 1, 2008, as amended from time to time.
In the event that any provision, sentence, section, clause or parts of this Ordinance or the attached Borough of Columbia Police Pension Plan restated January 1, 2003, be held to be invalid, such invalidity shall not affect or impair any remaining provision, section, sentence, clause or part of the Retirement Plan, it being the intent of the Borough of Columbia that such remainder shall remain in full force and effect.
There is hereby created a Columbia Police Pension Board, hereinafter referred to as the "Board," which shall have charge of the regulation, care, management, investment, disposal, administration and distribution of the fund. The Board shall consist of five official members and two ex officio members. The official members shall be as follows: the Mayor and Chief of Police of the Borough, whose membership shall be concurrent with their respective tenure of office; one full-time member of the Borough Police Department, other than the Chief of Police, who shall be selected by a majority vote of the full-time police officers of the Borough and who shall serve for a term of two years; one member of the Borough Council, who shall serve for a term of two years from his appointment and during his tenure of office; and one citizen of the Borough to serve for a term of two years, who shall be jointly selected by the Borough and the police bargaining unit representative. In the event that the Borough Council and the police bargaining unit representative cannot jointly agree on such citizen member, both parties shall submit three names of citizens, from which one name shall be drawn by lot. The ex officio members of the Board shall be the Borough Solicitor and the solicitor for the police bargaining unit.
The Board shall have the following powers and duties:
A.
To administer the Borough of Columbia Police Pension Fund in accordance with an agreement of trust entered into by the Borough Council of the Borough of Columbia and a corporate fiduciary, which agreement of trust shall permit the fiduciary to manage and operate the fund and to receive, hold, invest and disburse any sum or sums as may be necessary to carry out the plan and all other applicable statutes, ordinances and regulations.
B.
To provide guidance to the Trustee of the Borough of Columbia Police Pension Fund for the investment of all moneys deposited in such fund.
C.
To make rules and regulations for the governance of the affairs of the Board to better enable it to carry out its powers and duties imposed hereunder.
D.
To employ, upon approval of the Borough Council, and compensate actuaries, accountants and attorneys as it may deem necessary to carry out its duties hereunder. The expenses of the administration of the fund shall be paid from the assets of the fund.
E.
To make all decisions pertinent to the award of any pension to any applicant or participant or for the return of any individual contributions to any person who may be entitled to the same under the pension fund.
F.
To retain, upon approval of the Borough Council, any trustee for the management of the pension fund and to designate the depository of the pension fund.
A.
The Board shall have full power and authority to make all decisions in accordance with the terms of this article, including but not limited to the following:
(1)
To determine all questions relating to the eligibility of officers to become participants in the plan.
(2)
To compute and certify to the corporate fiduciary appointed by the Borough Council the amount and kind of benefits payable to participants.
(3)
To make and publish such rules and regulations for the administration of the pension fund as are not inconsistent with the terms of this article.
B.
The Borough Council shall supply full and timely information to the Board on all matters relating to the pay of all members of the police force, their retirement, death or other cause for termination of employment and such other pertinent data as the Board may require to carry out its duties and responsibilities hereunder. The Board shall be responsible to transmit to the corporate fiduciary of the pension fund such information as it requires to carry out its responsibilities under its agreement with the Borough.
Any member of the Police Pension Fund shall have the right to:
A.
Inquire of the Board as to his or her status or condition in the pension fund, including prospective benefits to which such member may be entitled in the future.
B.
Examine records of the Board pertaining to his or her pension records.
C.
Appear personally before the Board with or without counsel and to be heard on any matter pertaining to his or her rights under the plan.
The Board shall annually elect a Chairman and a Secretary from among its official members. The Treasurer of the Borough of Columbia shall serve as Treasurer of the fund. Three members of the Board shall constitute a quorum for all purposes. The Treasurer and the aforesaid solicitors shall not, for any purpose, be deemed to be official members of the Board, nor shall they be entitled to vote at any meetings of the Board, but they shall be entitled to attend all such meetings and to participate in any discussions therein. The Board shall meet at least semiannually, or more often if necessary, and shall keep minutes and records of its proceedings, decisions and findings and shall, annually or when requested by the Mayor or the Council of the Borough, make a complete and detailed financial statement to the Council. Both the official and ex officio members of the Board shall receive written notification of the date, time and location of each Board meeting from the Board Secretary at least seven days in advance of such meeting date. All books and records of the Board shall be open to inspection by any Board member, member of Borough Council, other Borough official, any Borough citizen or the agent or representative of any such person at all reasonable times. The accounts of the Board shall be annually audited by the auditors of the Borough or in such other manner as the Board and the Council may determine.
All full-time police officers of the Borough of Columbia shall be included in the Police Pension Plan hereby established. Membership in said plan is and shall be compulsory for all full-time members of said police force. All rights and privileges vested in any full-time member of the police force by virtue of Ordinance No. 326[1] of this Borough shall continue in force and effect and shall be deemed hereby to be transferred to the Police Pension Plan hereby created and to the fund hereby created.
[1]
Editor's Note: Ord. No. 326, adopted 1-12-1959, as amended, was superseded by Ord. No. 605, adopted 6-8-1987, which formerly comprised this article.
The fund hereby established shall be maintained by moneys or other assets received from the following sources:
A.
By such amount, as determined by the Borough Council, of payments received from the Treasurer of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania from the moneys received from taxes paid upon premiums by foreign casualty and foreign fire insurance companies for purposes of pension retirement benefits for members of municipal plans.
B.
By contributions from each member of the police force.
C.
By appropriations made by the Borough Council from the general fund of the Borough.
D.
By gift, grant, devise or bequest of money or property, real, personal or mixed, to or in trust for the use of the fund.
All full-time police officers shall pay into the Columbia Police Pension Fund, monthly, 5% of their gross monthly salary. Said payments shall be made by each full-time member of the Police Department during such periods of time as required by the Borough Council.
A.
The amount of the payments made by the State Treasurer from the moneys received from taxes paid upon premiums by foreign casualty and foreign fire insurance companies which are determined by the Borough Council to be deposited in the fund shall be used and applied as follows:
(1)
To reduce any unfunded liability, defined as the present value of the liability of the fund on account of retirement benefits payable under this article to members of the police force for service prior to the date upon which they first made contributions to the plan, offset by the value of any assets transferred to the plan from a previous pension fund, or after such liability has been funded.
(2)
To apply against the annual obligation of the Borough for future service cost, defined as the amount of money required to be contributed annually into the plan on account of benefits payable under this article to members of the police force for service subsequent to the date of the establishment of the plan, or to the extent that the payment made be in excess of such obligation.
(3)
To reduce member contributions.
B.
Any other moneys paid into the fund shall be applied equally against the member and Borough obligations for future service cost.
If an actuarial study shows that the condition of the fund is such that payments into the fund by members may be reduced below the percentages prescribed in § A225-17 hereof or eliminated and that, if such payments are reduced or eliminated, contributions from the general fund of the Borough will not be required to keep the fund actuarially sound, the Board may recommend to the Council that such contributions be reduced or eliminated, whereupon the Borough Council may, by resolution, on an annual basis, reduce or eliminate payments into the fund by members.
Payments from the fund shall only be made by direction of the Board. All checks on said fund shall be signed by the Treasurer of the Borough and countersigned by the Chairman of the Board.
