[HISTORY: Adopted by the Borough Council of the Borough of
Wilmerding as indicated in article histories. Amendments noted where
applicable.]
[Adopted 9-18-1967 by Ord. No. 728 (Ch. 1, Part 5, of the
1989 Code)]
The Borough of Wilmerding, having placed all of its employees
as far as they are eligible under the federal Social Security Act,
hereby elects to join the municipal employees retirement system established
by the Municipal Employees Retirement Law, Act of June 4, 1943, P.L.
886, as repealed and replaced by the Pennsylvania Municipal Retirement
Law, Act of February 1, 1974, P.L. 34, as amended, and does hereby
agree to be bound by all the requirements and provisions of the said
law, and the amendments thereto, and to assume all obligations, financial
and otherwise, placed upon member municipalities by said municipal
employees retirement law, and the amendments thereto.
Membership in the municipal employees retirement system for
elected officials shall be optional, and membership therein for employees
paid on a per-diem basis shall be optional. The election by elected
officials and per-diem employees to join said system must be made
within one year from the date of this article, within one year after
the official or employee first enters the service of the Borough of
Wilmerding. Officers and employees paid wholly on a fee basis shall
not be eligible for membership in the system.
Credit for prior service toward the municipal annuity of each
original member shall be 10 years of service to the Borough of Wilmerding.
The Borough of Wilmerding does hereby assume the liability for payment
of 100% of the original members' contributions for 10 years of service
toward the original members' annuity for the prior service of each
original member.
Payment for the prior service as set forth in § 50-3
hereof shall be made by the Borough of Wilmerding in accordance with
said municipal employees retirement law and may be spread over a period
of 30 years if the Borough of Wilmerding so elects and with the approval
of the Municipal Employees Retirement Board.
The Borough of Wilmerding does hereby elect to extend the provisions
of Section 20.1 of the Municipal Employees Retirement Law (Act of
June 4, 1943, P.L. 886), added by the Act of August 24, 1963, No.
485, so that contributors to the retirement system shall have the
options and enjoy the protections of the provisions set forth in subsections
(a) and (b) of Section 20.1 of the Municipal Employees Retirement
Law, and Section 20.1 is hereby incorporated and made part hereof
by reference thereto.
[1]
Editor's Note: The Municipal Employees Retirement Law (1945)
and Section 20.1 of that Law cited in this section were subsequently
repealed by the 1974 Pennsylvania Municipal Retirement Law.
[Adopted 6-3-1980 by Ord. No. 808 (Ch. 1, Part 4, of the
1989 Code)]
A police pension plan is hereby established pursuant to the
Act of May 29, 1956, P.L. 1804, as amended, (53 P.S. § 767
et seq.). Such fund shall be under the direction of the Borough of
Wilmerding and shall be applied under such regulations as the Borough
of Wilmerding may prescribe.
Each full-time policeman now or hereafter employed by the Borough
of Wilmerding shall be eligible to participate and shall be a participant
in the Police Pension Plan.
[Amended 10-6-1998 by Ord. No. 961; 12-4-2001 by Ord. No. 977]
Each participant who has been in the employ of Borough of Wilmerding
as a police officer for 25 years in the aggregate, and who has attained
the age of 55 years, may retire and shall, upon his actual retirement
from his employment with the Borough of Wilmerding, be entitled to
receive a pension or retirement benefit as are hereinafter provided:
A.
Individuals who were members of an Act 600 pension fund prior to
December 21, 1965, have the option to retire at age 60 with 20 years
of service.
B.
Also provided that, if an individual is a policeman for six months,
enters the military, and returns to the Police Department within six
months of leaving the military, he is to be given credit for his time
in the military. (However, he must also provide contributions to the
fund for that time.)
C.
Also provided that Borough Council, in its discretion, may include
overtime and sick time in a policeman's average compensation
when calculating benefits, but if included, such pay must also be
included when member contributions are calculated.
D.
Pension benefits to which police officers are entitled under this
Ordinance shall vest after 12 years of full time service.
E.
"Service" shall include any period of qualified military service
as determined under the requirements of Chapter 43 of Title 38, United
States Code, provided that the participant returns to employment following
such period of qualified military service and the participant makes
payment to the plan in an amount equal to the participant contributions
that would otherwise have been paid to the plan during such period
of qualified military service. The amount of participant contributions
shall be based upon an estimate of the compensation that would have
been paid to the participant during such period of qualified military
service as determined by the average compensation paid to the participant
during the 12 months immediately preceding the period of qualified
military service. The amount of participant contributions calculated
must be paid into the plan before the end of the period that begins
the date of reemployment and ends on the earlier of the date that
ends the period that has a duration of three times the period of qualified
military service or the date that is five years after the date of
reemployment.
The contribution rate shall be set in the discretion of Council
between 5% and 8% on that portion of monthly compensation that exceeds
the amount on which social security taxes are payable.
[Amended 12-4-2001 by Ord. No. 977]
A.
The pension or retirement benefits shall be payable during the balance
of the participant's life following actual retirement and after
fulfillment of the age and service requirements set forth above. The
monthly benefit shall be a sum equal to 1/2 of the monthly average
salary of the participant during the last 36 months of employment.
However, the Borough is prohibited from paying life and health insurance
benefits for retired policemen.
B.
Maximum benefit limitations. Notwithstanding any provision of this
plan to the contrary, no benefit provided under this plan attributable
to contributions of the employer shall exceed, as an annual amount,
the amount specified in Internal Revenue Code § 415(b)(1)(A),
as adjusted pursuant to Code § 415(d), assuming the form
of benefit shall be a straight life annuity (with no ancillary benefits).
The limitations described in this section shall be governed by the
following conditions and definitions:
(1)
Benefits paid or payable in a form other than a straight life annuity
(with no ancillary benefits) or where the employee contributes to
the plan or makes rollover contributions shall be adjusted on an actuarially
equivalent basis to determine the limitation contained herein.
(2)
In the case of a benefit which commences prior to the attainment
of age 62 by the participant, the limitation herein shall be adjusted
on an actuarially equivalent basis to the amount determined pursuant
to this section commencing at age 62; however, the reduction shall
not reduce the limitation below $75,000 for a benefit commencing at
or after age 55, or if the benefit commences prior to attainment of
age 55 the amount which is actuarially equivalent to a benefit of
$75,000 commencing at age 55; however, in the case of a qualified
participant (a participant with respect to whom a period of at least
15 years of service, including applicable military service, as a full-time
employee of a police or fire department is taken into account in determining
the amount of benefit); the limitation contained herein shall not
reduce the limitation to an amount less than the amount specified
pursuant to Internal Revenue Code § 415(b)(2)(G) and such
amount shall be adjusted pursuant to Code § 415(d).
(3)
In the case of a benefit which commences after attainment of age
65 by the participant, the limitation herein shall be adjusted on
an actuarially equivalent basis to the amount determined herein commencing
at age 65.
(4)
Benefits paid to a participant which total less than $10,000 from
all defined benefit plans maintained by the employer expressed as
an annual benefit shall be deemed not to exceed the limitation of
this section, provided that the employer has not at any time maintained
a defined contribution plan in which the participant has participated;
however, in the case of a participant who is not receiving a disability
benefit pursuant to § 50-13, with fewer than 10 years of
participation, the limitation expressed in this Subsection B(4) shall
be reduced by 1/10 for each year of participation less than 10, but
in no event shall this limitation be less than $1,000.
(5)
The limitations expressed herein shall be based upon plan years for
calculation purposes, shall be applied to all defined benefit plans
maintained by the employer as one defined benefit plan and to all
defined contribution plans maintained by the employer as one defined
contribution plan, and shall be applied and interpreted consistent
with Internal Revenue Code § 415 and regulations thereunder
as applicable to government plans in general and this plan in particular.
A service increment may, in the discretion of Borough Council,
be provided to all police officers who retire under the terms of this
article, which increment shall equal between $1 and $100 per month
for each year of completed service beyond 25 years. Service increments
shall not exceed a total of $100 per month.
A cost-of-living increment may, in the discretion of Borough
Council, be provided to retired officers, and the increment shall
be some determined percent, as determined by Council, for every certain
percent increase in the Consumer Price Index, provided that such increment
shall be provided for in accord with state law and shall not exceed
the following limitations imposed by Act 600:
A.
Such increment shall not exceed the percentage increase in "all items
index" in the Consumer Price Index from the year in which the police
officer last worked;
B.
In no case may the total police pension benefits exceed 75% of the
retired officer's salary for computing retirement benefits;
C.
The retired officer's total cost-of-living increase shall not
exceed 30%; and
D.
No cost-of-living increase shall be granted which would impair the
actuarial soundness of the police pension fund.
[Amended 8-3-1982 by Ord. No. 821; 10-3-1995 by Ord. No. 942]
A.
Retroactive to January 1, 1982, the Borough hereby establishes and
provides for a service-connected total and permanent disability pension
benefit for all participants in this pension program.
B.
The term "permanent disability" means any service-connected disability
which has rendered a police officer, and will render him, incapable
of performing the reasonable and customary duties of the job.
C.
On retirement for disability, a police officer shall be entitled
to receive an allowance, payable in equal monthly installments, during
his lifetime in an amount which shall be arrived at by multiplying
the average of the retiree's last 36 months' monthly salary by
a percentage, which percentage shall be arrived at by dividing the
number of years of service of the retiree by the number 25 (average
of last 36 months' salary times a percentage to be determined by dividing
the number of years of service by 25). All such disability pension
benefits shall be reduced by the amount of any payments for which
the police officer shall be eligible under the Act of June 21, 1938,
(P.L. 566, No. 284), known as the Pennsylvania Occupation Disease
Act.
In the discretion of Borough Council, in the event of the death
of a member who was receiving a pension or disability benefit or who
has qualified for retirement pension benefits but had not retired,
his widow shall be entitled, during her lifetime or so long as she
does not remarry, to receive a pension equal to 50% of the pension
the member was receiving or would have been receiving had he been
retired at the time of his death. If no widow survives, or if she
survives and subsequently dies or remarries, then the child or children
under the age of 18 years of the deceased eligible participant shall
be entitled until such child or children reach the age of 18 years
to receive a pension calculated at 50% of the pension to which the
member was entitled.
The Borough of Wilmerding shall be the owner of all monies or
property paid into the fund or annuities or policies purchased from
insurance companies hereunder, and the owner of any insurance and
retirement income contracts acquired hereunder, and no participant
prior to retirement shall have any right or interest in any portion
of said monies or property; provided, however, that each participant
shall be entitled in the event of termination or discontinuance of
his employment for reasons other than retirement or death to have
returned to him the total amount of all such monies paid by him into
the pension fund with interest at the rate of 6% per annum. If such
termination or discontinuance of employment is due to death, such
refund of money shall be paid to the participant's designated
beneficiary or, in the absence thereof, to his estate.
All contracts, agreements or funds held for the purpose of providing
pensions, annuities or retirement income, or any of them, on any policeman
who shall be a participant in the program herein established shall
be and hereby are transferred and assigned to the fund herein created.
After such transfer, the police pension fund shall assume the liability,
if any, of continuing the payment of pensions to members of the police
force retired prior to such transfer in accordance with the laws and
regulations under which such members were retired.
