A.
Board created; composition; general duties; reports. The Mayor of the City of Schenectady for the time being (and his successors in office), the comptroller of the City of Schenectady for the time being (and his successors in office), the Commissioner of Public Safety of the City of Schenectady for the time being (and his successors in office) and two members of the Police Department of the City of Schenectady who shall be elected in the manner provided by this section, shall constitute a Board of Trustees of the Police Pension Fund hereinafter mentioned. The Chief of the Police force of the City of Schenectady shall, on or before December 1 of each year in which a Mayor shall be elected, call a meeting of said police force to be held on the first Tuesday following the first Monday in December of such year for the purpose of electing two members of said force to be trustees of the said Police Pension Fund. Each member of said force shall be entitled to vote for two members of said police force for the office of trustee of the said fund. Voting shall be by ballot and shall be secret. The two members having the highest vote shall be declared elected. The Chief of Police shall designate two members of said force who shall with himself canvass the votes and declare the result. The two members of the police force so elected as trustees of said fund shall take office on the first day of January following such election and shall serve for two years. In the event that a vacancy shall occur in the office of a trustee so elected, the Chief of Police shall appoint a member of the police force to fill such office of trustee for the remainder of the unexpired term. The Mayor of the City of Schenectady shall be President of said Board, the Commissioner of Public Safety of the City of Schenectady shall be Secretary of said Board and the Comptroller of the City of Schenectady shall be Treasurer of said Board. Said Board of Trustees shall have charge of and administer said fund and from time to time invest the same or any part thereof as they shall deem most beneficial to said fund, in such securities as savings banks of the State of New York are permitted to invest in, and are empowered to make all necessary contracts and take all necessary and proper action and proceedings in the premises and to make payments from said fund of pensions granted in pursuance to this article. Said trustees shall from time to time establish such rules and regulations for the administration of the Police Pension Fund as they may deem best. They shall report in detail the condition of the fund at the close of each fiscal year of the Police Department, through their Secretary to the City Council, and said report shall be published with the annual report of the Police Department. No payment whatever shall be allowed or made by said trustees as rewards, gratuities or compensation to any person for salary or services rendered to or for said Board of Trustees. (L. 1907, Ch. 183, § 1; L. 1917, Ch. 378, § 1)
B.
Assets of fund.
(1)
The Police Pension Fund shall consist of:
(a)
All fines imposed upon members of the police force by the Commissioner
of Public Safety.
(b)
All rewards, fees, gifts, testimonials and emoluments presented,
paid or given to any member of the police force, for or on account
of police services, except such as have been or shall be allowed by
the Commissioner of Public Safety to be retained by such member.
(c)
All moneys paid for special services of policemen at balls,
parties, weddings, excursions or picnics.
(d)
All lost or stolen moneys remaining in the hands of the Police
Justice or the Clerk to the Commissioner of Public Safety for the
space of one year, and for which there shall be no lawful claimant,
and the moneys arising from the disposal of the same, by said Police
Justice or Clerk to the Commissioner of Public Safety.[1]
[1]
Editor's Note: Former Subsection 5, which immediately followed
this section, was repealed by L.L. No. 1-1960, § 1.
(e)
All moneys, pay, compensation or salary or any part thereof,
forfeited, deducted or withheld from any member of the police force
on account of absence from duty and lost time shall be paid monthly
to the custodian of the Police Pension Fund.
(2)
Contributions.
(a)
The City shall contribute annually from moneys received by the
Director of Finance, raised by general municipal tax, an amount equal
to 6% of the payroll of the members of the Police Pension Fund of
the City of Schenectady for the year 1940, 7% for the year 1941, 8%
for the year 1942, and 9% for the year 1943, and for each and every
succeeding year thereafter, which amounts shall be transferred annually
to the benefit of the Police Pension Fund of the City of Schenectady.
(b)
The City shall also pay on account of any member or officer
of its Police Department who has duly elected, or which hereafter
duly elects to contribute the additional amount required for the purpose
of retiring after 25 years of service as provided by Subdivision 1
of § 68-B of the Civil Service Law, or any subsequent amendments
thereto, the entire additional cost on account of the police services
rendered by such officer or member of the Police Department prior
to the date of the adoption of this local law, and the City shall
further pay 75% of the additional cost on account of police service
rendered by such officer or member of the Police Department after
the date of the adoption hereof.
(c)
In the event that the annual income of the aforesaid fund is
insufficient for the payment of pensions and all other legal disbursements
from said fund, the Board of Trustees of said fund may, if in their
opinion they deem it advisable, use the assets of said fund to meet
the deficiency but only to the extent of 5% of the entire fund in
any one year. In the event that the Board of Trustees of said fund
does not draw on the assets of the fund as aforesaid to meet the deficiency,
or if after drawing on the assets of the fund as aforesaid there is
still a remaining deficiency, the City shall include such additional
sums of money as may be necessary to meet the deficiency in its annual
estimate of revenues and expenses of the City for the fiscal year
and the amount of said deficiency shall be paid by the City to the
Police Pension Fund at the same time that the City pays into said
fund its annual contribution to said fund. Upon the retirement and
pensioning of the last member of the police force, contributions to
the aforesaid fund on the part of the City shall cease and terminate
and pensions to the members may be paid from income of said pension
fund, and if the annual income from said fund is insufficient to meet
the annual pension or other payments, the balance of said pension
or other payments shall be paid out of the principal of said fund,
and if before the death of the last pensioner the principal of said
fund has been wholly expended, the remaining members on pension shall
be paid their pension in the same amount and in the same manner out
of the federal funds of the City. If, after the death of all the pensioners,
there is no one living who is entitled to further payments from the
pension fund and there is any part of the principal amount of said
fund remaining, it shall revert to the City and become part of its
general funds.
(3)
The Board of Trustees by a majority vote may extend the period of service beyond the mandatory retirement age provided herein but in no event shall such extension be in excess of two one-year extensions. (L. 1907, Ch. 183, § 2; L. 1917, Ch. 378, §§ 2, 3; L.L. No. 2-1938, § 1; L.L. No. 5-1938, §§ 1, 2; L.L. No. 3-1941, § 1; L.L. No. 3-1946, § 1; L.L. No. 4-1957, § 1; 12-8-1975 by Intro. L.L. No. 7-1975, § 1)
C.
Benefits. The Board of Trustees shall have power, in their discretion,
to retire and dismiss from membership in the said police force and
thereupon grant pensions, as hereinafter provided, to any member of
the police force of said City who shall have become disabled, physically
or mentally, to widows and orphans of such members, to be paid from
the Police Pension Fund by the Board of Trustees thereof as follows:
(1)
To the designated beneficiary of any member of the police force who
shall have been killed in the actual performance of duty, or who shall
have died from the effect of any injury received while in the actual
performance of such duty, the sum of $1,000. To the designated beneficiary
of any member of the police force who shall have died after five or
more years of continuous active service in said Police Department,
and while said member is in active service therein, but whose death
shall not have occurred as above specified, the sum of $1,000. The
beneficiary entitled to receive either of the above-mentioned sums
shall be designated by the members of said police force in writing,
and such written designation shall be filed in the office of the Director
of Finance of the City of Schenectady. In the event that no beneficiary
shall have been so designated, or the last designated beneficiary
shall have died, then said sum of $1,000 shall be paid to the estate
of the deceased member. The members of the police force shall be permitted
to change the beneficiary named by filing with said Director of Finance
a written revocation of the prior designation and naming in said writing
the new beneficiary.
(2)
To any member of such police force who whilst in the actual performance
of duty and by reason of the performance of such duty and without
fault or misconduct on his part shall have become permanently disabled,
physically or mentally, so as to be unfitted to perform full police
duty, 1/2 of the salary of such member shall be paid to him annually
during his lifetime.
(3)
The Board of Trustees may release and dismiss from the force and
service any member of the police force upon a certificate of the City
physician or a licensed physician selected by the Board of Trustees,
showing that such member of whatever age, who has served 20 years,
is permanently disabled, physically or mentally, so as to be unfit
for duty, and place upon the roll of the pension fund and award and
grant to be paid to such member, from said pension fund an annual
pension during his lifetime of 1/2 of the full salary or compensation
of such member at the time of such retirement. Any member of said
police force who has been in active service for 25 years or more shall
upon his own application be retired without physical examination and
certification and be placed upon the roll of the Police Pension Fund
and receive from said Police Pension Fund an annual pension of 1/2
of the full salary or compensation of such member at the time of such
retirement. Said period of 25 years of service must be one of active
service but need not be one of continuous and consecutive service.
This provision for retirement, after 25 years' active service is not
mandatory but is discretionary with such member. The pensions granted
under this subsection shall be for the natural life of the pensioner
and shall not be revoked, repealed or dismissed. The application for
a pension shall set forth at what time, not less than 30 days subsequent
to the execution and filing thereof, the member desires to be retired,
and he shall be retired as of the date set in the application and
placed on the roll of the pension fund, provided that at the time
specified for his retirement his term or tenure of office shall not
have terminated or have been forfeited and provided, further, that
upon his request in writing, the member shall be granted a leave of
absence from the date of the filing of such application until the
date the retirement becomes effective. If the applicant dies prior
to the granting of his pension and has not had his office terminated
or forfeited prior to his death, his rights and the rights of his
estate and/or designated beneficiary shall be determined as if the
applicant was retired and place on the pension rolls as of the date
of the submission of his application to the Board.
(4)
The Board of Trustees may, in their discretion, order any pension
granted, or any part thereof to cease, except in cases of members
of the police force retired after 20 years' service, as provided in
the last preceding section, but in all such cases the said trustees
shall file a written statement of the causes which determined them
in ordering any pension to so cease, and nothing herein contained
shall render the granting or payment of such pension obligatory or
chargeable as a matter of right upon said Police Pension Fund, except
as provided in the last preceding section.
(5)
No member of the police force shall be awarded, granted or paid a
pension on account of physical or mental disability or disease unless
upon the certificate of the City physician or licensed physician selected
by the Board of Trustees, which shall set forth the cause, nature
and extent of the disability, disease or injury of each member of
the police force who may be placed upon the pension roll, and said
certificate shall state distinctly whether or not such disability,
disease or injury was incurred or sustained by said member of the
police force in the performance of police duty, and such certificate
shall, in each case, be filed with and entered upon the records of
the Commissioner of Public Safety.
(6)
None of the provisions of this article or any amending state or local
act shall apply to any member/members of the Schenectady police force,
appointed on or after December 31, 1937, and the pension, retirement
benefits, emoluments or awards created by virtue of the Schenectady
police pension system shall be discontinued as to such member/members
but in place and stead of membership in said Schenectady police pension
system, from and after December 31, 1937, such appointee/appointees
shall be entitled to membership in the New York State employees retirement
system and entitled to all of the pensions, retirement benefits, emoluments
or awards as are provided for in Chapter 741, Article 4, Laws of 1920,
and Chapter 591, Article 5, Laws of 1922, as the same have from time
to time been amended and renumbered. The City of Schenectady hereby
gives its consent and approval to such membership/memberships in the
New York State employees retirement system of all member/members of
the Schenectady police force, who shall be appointed on and after
December 31, 1937.
(7)
In the event that a member of said Police Pension Fund shall be separated
from the service for any cause whatsoever, there shall be paid to
him immediately thereafter from said Police Pension Fund the amount
paid and contributed by him into said fund, together with interest
at the rate of 4% per year. In the event that a member of said Police
Pension Fund is retired and pensioned within the provisions of this
article and shall die before he has received from said Police Pension
Fund the amount of money paid and contributed by him into said fund,
together with interest thereon to be computed at the rate of 4% per
year, there shall then be paid to his estate or his designated beneficiary
or his contingent beneficiary from said Police Pension Fund as of
the date of his death a sum of money equal to the difference between
the amount paid by said deceased member into said fund, together with
interest thereon to be computed at the rate of 4% per year, and the
amount paid to him from said fund in the form of pension or otherwise.
(8)
There is hereby authorized pursuant to Chapter 426 of the Laws of
1974 of the State of New York the payment of an additional supplemental
allowance over and above that mandated by § 207-i of the
General Municipal Law to all retirees under this pension fund by adding
thereto additional per centum in accordance with the following schedule:
|
Year of Retirement
|
Per Centum
|
|---|---|
|
1969 or thereafter
|
0%
|
|
1968
|
4%
|
|
1967
|
5%
|
|
1966
|
6%
|
|
1965
|
6%
|
|
1964
|
7%
|
|
1963
|
7%
|
|
1962
|
8%
|
|
1961
|
8%
|
|
1960
|
9%
|
|
1959
|
9%
|
|
1958
|
9%
|
|
1957
|
9%
|
|
1956
|
10%
|
|
1955
|
10%
|
|
1954
|
10%
|
|
1953
|
10%
|
|
1952
|
10%
|
|
1951 and earlier
|
11%
|
|
(L. 1907, Ch. 183, § 3; L. 1917, Ch. 378, § 4; L.L. No. 2-1926, § 1; L.L. No. 4-1938, § 1; L.L. No. 5-1938, §§ 3, 4; L.L. No. 1-1958, § 1; 1-20-1975 by L.L. No. 2-1975, § 1)
|
