[Adopted 11-13-1989 by Ord. No. 618; amended in its entirety 10-10-2005 by Ord. No. 755]
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.
[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 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.
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.