[Adopted 12-8-1987 by Ord. No. 8-87]
As used in this Article, the following terms
shall have the meanings indicated:
The Municipal Pension Plan Funding Standard and Recovery
Act, enacted as P.L. 1005 (Act 205 of 1984), as amended.
[1]The Third Class City Code, enacted as P.L. 932, as amended.
[2]The base salary of the member, excluding longevity pay, paid
by the employer for services rendered.
The Council of the City of New Kensington.
A condition of permanent physical or mental impairment due
to which a member is unable to perform any customary duties of his
employment with the employer.
The date upon which this Article is first effective, that
is January 1, 1988.
Any full-time paid fireman employed by the employer as a
member of the employer's Fire Department.
The City of New Kensington.
The rate of monthly pay of the member as of the date of retirement
or the highest average annual salary which the member received during
any five years of continuous service preceding his date of retirement,
whichever is the greater amount.
An employee who has met the eligibility requirements of § 32-14 and who has not for any reason ceased his participation hereunder.
The Firemen's Pension Fund administered under the terms of this Article and the rules and regulations of the Board of Trustees, as set forth in § 32-13, and which shall include all money, property, investments, policies and contracts that are a part of the plan.
The pension plan set forth herein and designated as the City
of New Kensington New Firemen's Pension Plan.
The twelve-month period beginning on January 1 and ending
on the subsequent December 31 of each year.
Refers to a twelve-month period of continuous employment
during which a member is employed with the employer and paid out of
the City treasury.
A.
The pension fund shall be aggregated with other pension
funds maintained by the employer to create a single pension trust
fund, which shall thereafter serve as the funding mechanism for all
pension plans connected with the aggregation. Each pension plan subject
to the aggregation shall have an undivided participation in the assets
of the combined pension trust fund. For accounting purposes, the value
of the participation by each plan shall be calculated annually, in
accordance with the requirements of Section 607 of the Act.[1]
[1]
Editor's Note: See 53 P.S. § 895.607.
B.
The aggregate pension trust fund shall be managed
by a Board of Trustees, which shall include at least one representative
of the active membership of each plan included in the fund who shall
be elected by the active membership of said plan. The remaining members
of such Board shall be drawn from the managing boards of the associated
plans.
C.
The employer may direct the Board of Trustees to pay
expenses from the pension fund which are attributable to the preparation
of any actuarial valuation report or experience investigation required
by the Act or any other expense which is permissible under the terms
of the Act and which is directly associated with administering the
plan. Such permissible expenses shall include, but are not limited
to, investment costs associated with obtaining authorized investments
and investment management fees, accounting expenses, premiums for
insurance coverage on fund assets, reasonable and customary counsel
fees incurred for advice or to defend the pension fund and legitimate
travel and education expenses incurred by plan officials which are
necessary, reasonable and benefit the pension fund.
D.
It shall be the duty of the Board of Trustees to receive,
retain and distribute pension fund contributions and pension payments
to the members who are entitled to receive such contributions and
payments. Any contributions or pension payments to a member shall
not be made from any other fund maintained or controlled by the City
except the pension trust fund.
E.
The employer may take, by gift, grant, devise or bequest,
any money or property, real, personal or mixed, in trust for the benefit
of the pension fund. The care, management, investment and disposal
of such funds or property shall be vested in the Board of Trustees,
and such care, management and disposal shall likewise be directed
by ordinance, and said pension funds shall be governed thereby, subject
to such directions, not inconsistent therewith, as the donors of such
funds and property may prescribe.
F.
Legal title to assets in the aggregated pension trust
fund shall be in the municipality as trustee, or its nominees as trustees,
for any person having a beneficial interest in a particular pension
plan that is associated with the pension trust fund.
Any person who becomes an employee of the employer
on or after January 1, 1988, shall be eligible to become a member
of the plan and to participate hereunder.
A.
As of the effective date of this Article, each member
shall contribute 5% of his salary, which appears on Form W-2 for federal
income tax purposes, each month to the pension fund. In addition to
such contribution, the member shall contribute $1 per month as a service
increment contribution, but in no case, however, shall contributions
that are attributable to service increments be required after the
date when a member has attained age 65.
B.
With the approval of Council, a member who is making
contributions and who served in the Armed Forces of the United States
following September 1, 1940, and who was not a member of the Firemen's
Pension Fund prior to such military service shall be entitled to have
full credit for each year or fraction thereof, not to exceed five
years of continuous service, upon his payment to the pension fund
of an amount equal to that which he would have paid had he been a
member during the period for which he desires credit and his payment
to the pension fund of an additional amount as the equivalent of the
contribution of the employer, plus any interest the employer would
have been required to pay on the contributions on account of such
military service.
A.
Each member shall be entitled to receive a pension
benefit, provided that he has completed at least 20 years of continuous
service with the employer and has attained age 50; provided, however,
that payment of pension benefits upon retirement shall be conditioned
upon a member's being subject to service from time to time as a firemen's
reserve until unfitted for such service, at which time such member
shall be finally discharged by reason of age or disability.
B.
A member entitled to a pension benefit shall receive
during his lifetime a monthly retirement income which shall be equal
to one-half (1/2) of his final monthly average salary.
C.
Each member who becomes entitled to a pension benefit shall also become entitled to payment of a service increment benefit which shall be equal to the number of whole years in excess of 20 years of continuous service (including therein any credit for military service as provided in § 32-15, Contributions) multiplied by one-fortieth (1/40) of the member's pension benefit which he is entitled to receive. No service increment benefit shall be paid to a member which is in excess of $100 per month, nor shall such increment reflect any employment after the member has reached the age of 65.
D.
The pension payments herein provided for shall be
payable only to the member and his survivors and shall not be subject
to attachment, execution, levy, garnishment or other legal process,
nor shall they be subject to assignment or transfer.
E.
If a member, whether an active or a retired member,
dies, his spouse or, if no spouse survives or if the spouse survives
and subsequently dies, then the child or children under the age of
18 years of the deceased member shall, during the spouse's lifetime
in the case of the spouse or until reaching the age of 18 in the case
of a child or children, receive a monthly income equal to the member's
pension which the member was receiving or would have been receiving
had he been retired at the time of this death.
[Amended 11-14-2005 by Ord. No. 5-05]
F.
If any member of the plan incurs a disability, he
shall be entitled to receive a monthly disability pension benefit
which shall be equal to his pension benefit determined as of his date
of disability.
G.
Each member who becomes entitled to receive a disability
pension benefit from the pension fund shall be required to submit
to medical examinations by three physicians designated by the employer.
Thereafter, the employer may annually require the member to have a
medical examination to certify such member's continued disability,
and, if a member refuses to comply with such requirement, payment
of his disability pension shall cease.
H.
If a member dies while receiving a disability pension
benefit from the pension fund, such benefit payments which he was
receiving shall be continued to the member's spouse or, if no spouse
survives or if the spouse survives and subsequently dies, then to
the child or children under the age of 18 years of the deceased member.
[Amended 11-14-2005 by Ord. No. 5-05]
I.
Whenever a member shall become entitled to receive
a pension benefit from the pension fund, he shall not be deprived
of his benefit except for one or more of the following causes: conviction
of felony or misdemeanor; becoming a habitual drunkard; or failing
to comply with some general regulation relating to the management
of the pension fund if such regulation provides that failure to comply
shall terminate the right to participate in the pension fund. Any
termination of a pension benefit shall be only after such due notice
and hearing as shall be prescribed by regulation of the Council.
A.
If a member who makes contributions to the pension
fund shall cease to be a member of the Fire Department before he becomes
entitled to receive a pension benefit, the total amount of his contributions
paid to the pension fund shall be refunded in full, without interest.
B.
If a member terminates his employment and is later
reemployed by the employer as a member of its Fire Department, he
shall receive credit for the years of continuous service earned prior
to his date of termination only if he repays the amount he received
at the time he terminated employment with the employer.
C.
If a member dies prior to his eligibility to receive a pension benefit from the pension fund, the member's surviving spouse or children shall receive any death benefits payable to survivors as provided under § 32-16; if such member is not survived by a spouse or children, however, then the total contribution paid into the pension fund by the member shall be paid to his estate.
A.
An actuary shall perform an actuarial valuation at
least biennially unless the employer is applying or has applied for
supplemental state assistance pursuant to Section 603 of the Act,[1] whereupon actuarial valuation reports shall be made annually.
Such actuarial valuation shall be prepared and certified by an approved
actuary, as such term is defined in the Act.
[1]
Editor's Note: See 53 P.S. § 895.603.
B.
Such actuarial reports shall be prepared and filed
under the supervision of the Chief Administrative Officer.
C.
The Chief Administrative Officer of the pension plan
shall determine the financial requirements of the plan on the basis
of the most recent actuarial report and shall determine the minimum
obligation of the employer with respect to funding the plan for any
given plan year. The Chief Administrative Officer shall submit the
financial requirements of the plan and the minimum obligation of the
employer to the Council annually and shall certify the accuracy of
such calculations and their conformance with the Act.
D.
The employer shall annually contribute to the pension
fund such amounts as are recommended by the plan's actuary as being
required to meet the funding standards of the Act and to provide for
the benefits under the plan.
Prior to the adoption of any benefit plan modification
by the employer, the Chief Administrative Officer of the plan shall
provide to the Council a cost estimate of the proposed benefit plan
modification. Such estimate shall disclose to the Council the impact
of the proposed benefit plan modification on the future financial
requirements of the plan and the future minimum obligation of the
employer with respect to the plan.
This Article is hereby created and established
under the provisions of the Act governing severely distressed municipalities
and is intended to comply with the requirements therein governing
the recovery programs of such municipalities.
