There shall be continued in and for the City of Albany a Police Pension Fund, which shall consist of:
A. 
All securities, property and moneys which, upon the passage of this article, are in the possession or under the charge and control of the Trustees of the Police Pension Fund.
B. 
All fines, penalties and forfeitures that, from time to time, may hereafter be imposed upon and collected from any officer or member of the Police Department of the City, by way of discipline, collectible from pay or salary, and all compensation or salary that may be deducted or withheld from any officer or member for or on account of absence from duty.
C. 
All rewards in money, fees, gifts, testimonials and emoluments that may be given or paid because of special or extraordinary services rendered by any officer or member of such Police Department or for any other reason.
D. 
Pursuant to the authority granted by § 113, Subdivision c, as amended, of the Retirement and Social Security Law of the State of New York, the City of Albany, as a portion of its plan for increased take-home pay for members of pension or retirement systems administered by the City, does hereby provide that it will make contributions, in an amount not to exceed three and one-half per centum (3 1/2%) of the annual salaries of its officers and employees who are such members, for the benefit of such member officers and employees of the City of Albany.
E. 
All lost or stolen moneys remaining in the hands of the Department of Police for the space of one year, for which there shall be no lawful claimant, and moneys arising from the sale of unclaimed property by the City Comptroller.
F. 
All moneys which may hereafter be collected or received from fines or penalties for violation of any traffic or highway law now existing or which may hereafter exist.
G. 
Five per centum of the City's portion of all liquor tax moneys which may be received by the City Treasurer.
In case the yearly revenue received from the sources mentioned in § 42-13 of this article is insufficient to meet the demands upon the pension fund, pursuant to the provisions of this article, the Common Council shall, at the end of each fiscal year, appropriate such sum or sums as may be necessary to meet each yearly deficiency, and the Board of Estimate and Apportionment shall approve such appropriation, and the same shall be payable out of any moneys in the City treasury derived from any source other than by municipal tax or placed in the annual tax budget and raised in the same manner as other moneys provided for in such budget.
[Amended 12-2-1985 by L.L. No. 2-1986]
The Mayor, Comptroller and Chief of Police of the City of Albany, and their successors in office, are hereby constituted the Board of Trustees, who shall have the control, management and distribution of the funds provided for in this article. One of the Trustees shall be elected President, and the Comptroller shall be the ex officio Treasurer of the Board and custodian of such funds. The Board of Trustees is hereby authorized to adopt rules and regulations for its government. It shall determine all applications for pensions according to the provisions of this article and shall cause to be kept a full and complete record of all its proceedings and meetings and shall report in detail to the Common Council annually the condition and disposition of such funds and the items of receipts and disbursements in connection with the same, which shall be printed in the annual report of the City Comptroller; and the granting or allowing of any pension except as hereinafter set forth shall constitute a breach of trust on the part of the Trustees voting for the same; and actions at law to recover such pension illegally paid may be brought and maintained against the bond of the Treasurer and such delinquent Trustees and their estates and the person to whom the same may be paid by the City of Albany.
[Amended 12-2-1985 by L.L. No. 2-1986]
The Chief of Police shall have the power to retire from the service in the Police Department any officer or member thereof who may be found, on examination by the surgeon of the Department, disqualified, physically or mentally, for the performance of his duties; and the Treasurer of the pension fund shall grant pensions as hereinafter provided to such member or to the widow and/or children of such member who may be entitled thereto, as follows:
A. 
In case an officer or member of the Police Department shall be killed in the actual performance of duty or shall have died within one year from the effects of any injury received while in the actual discharge of such duty, there shall be paid by the Board of Trustees of the pension fund to the widow, during her natural life or until she remarries, one-half (1/2) of the salary which such officer or member was receiving at the time of his death or fatal injury, and, if there is no widow or if there is a widow and she remarries, the Board of Trustees shall pay from the pension fund to the child or children under the age of 18 years one-half (1/2) of the salary which said officer or member was receiving at the time of his death or fatal injury and, if there be more than one child, share and share alike in such one-half salary. The pension or allowance in the case of a child or children shall cease when such child, if there is one, attains the age of 18 years, and, if there be more than one, as each child attains the age of 18 years, his share shall cease and shall be paid to the other child or children under 18 years of age.
B. 
To any member of the Police Department who, while 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, through injuries received, so as to be unfit to perform full police duty; and the Trustees of the fund shall place upon the pension roll of the pension fund and award and grant, to be paid such member, from such Police Pension Fund, an annual pension during his lifetime of one-half (1/2) of the salary of such member so retired. After the death of such member, there shall be paid to his wife surviving him an annual allowance as a pension of 60% of the pension paid him at the time of his death, provided that the said wife was married to said member at the time the disability occurred; and said payments shall continue during her natural life or until she remarries.
C. 
The Chief of Police may release and retire from the Police Department any member upon a certificate of the police surgeon showing that such member of whatever age who has served 20 years continuously is permanently disabled, physically or mentally, so as to unfit for duty; and the Treasurer of the fund shall place upon the pension roll of the pension fund and award and grant, to be paid from such Police Pension Fund, an annual pension during his lifetime of one-half (1/2) of the full salary or compensation of such member so retired. After the death of such member, there shall be paid to his wife surviving him an annual allowance as a pension of 60% of the pension paid him at the time of his death, provided that said wife was married to said member at the time of his retirement by reason of disability as aforesaid.
D. 
The surviving wife of any officer or member of the Police Department shall be paid at annual allowance as a pension of 60% of the pension paid him at the time of his death or that would have been paid him if he had been retired on the date of his death, for the period of her natural life or until she remarries, provided that such officer or member shall have been a member of the Police Department of the City of Albany continuously since May 31, 1940, and provided further that he was not a member of the New York State Employees Retirement System.
E. 
The provisions for payment to the surviving wife as set forth herein in Subsections B, C and D of this section shall not be made if the surviving wife shall be otherwise entitled to benefits under this article or under any state law which may provide for the payment of benefits by the City to each surviving wife.
F. 
Every officer or member of the Police Department who has served continuously as such for 25 or more years and shall have arrived at the age of 50 years shall, upon his own application, be retired without physical examination and certification. An annual pension shall be granted and paid each officer or a member so retired, from the Police Pension Fund, equal to one-half (1/2) of the annual compensation allowed him as salary at the date of his retirement from the service, and such pension shall be for the natural life of the pensioner. Any member of the veteran grade who shall become entitled to a pension under this article shall receive an annual pension equal to one-half (1/2) the salary to which he would have been entitled had he been of the same grade and in the active list at the time of his retirement.
G. 
Officers and members referred to in this article are those only who have been regularly appointed officers and patrolmen of the Police Department.
H. 
In the event that a policeman has served as a member of the Police Department for his minimum period and continues in service, upon his subsequent retirement for any cause whatsoever, there shall be added to the amount of the annual pension or retirement allowance to which he was entitled upon such retirement, an additional amount computed at the rate of one-sixtieth (1/60) of his final compensation for each year of such additional service. His final compensation shall be computed to be the average of the last three years of salary or the highest average salary earned during any three consecutive years from the date of his minimum period to the date of his retirement.
I. 
The provisions of Subsection H above shall not be made in addition to additional retirement benefits provided under any state law except to the extent that said state benefit is less than the benefit herein provided. This additional benefit set forth herein is intended to be in lieu of any lesser amount prescribed by any state law and, in particular, by § 207-d of the General Municipal Law of the State of New York.
A. 
Once each year following the retirement of a member on a disability allowance, the Board of Trustees may and, upon the beneficiary's application, shall require any disability beneficiary to undergo a medical examination by the Board of Trustees, said examination to be made at the place of residence of said beneficiary or other place mutually agreed upon. Should any disability beneficiary refuse to submit to a medical examination, his retirement allowance shall be discontinued until his withdrawal of such refusal, and should such refusal continue for one year, all his rights in and to his pension shall be forfeited.
B. 
Should the surgeon of the Police Department report and certify to the Board of Trustees that such disability beneficiary is engaged in or is able to engage in a gainful occupation paying more than his retirement allowance and should the Board of Trustees concur in such report, then the amount of his pension shall be reduced to an amount which, when added to the amount earnable by him together with his annuity, shall equal the amount of his final average salary. Should his earning capacity be later changed, then the amount of his pension may be further altered, provided that the new pension shall not exceed the amount of the pension originally granted nor an amount which, when added to the amount earned by the beneficiary together with his annuity, equals the amount of his final average salary. If the Board of Trustees concurs in a report by the surgeon of the Police Department that said beneficiary is able to engage in a gainful occupation, it shall, if the beneficiary so desires, certify the name of such beneficiary to the Civil Service Commission, and such Commission shall place his name as a preferred eligible on such appropriate lists of candidates as are prepared for appointment to positions for which he is stated to be qualified, of a salary grade not exceeding that from which he was last retired. Should said beneficiary be offered municipal service as a result of the placing of his name on a civil service list, the Board of Trustees shall reduce the amount of his disability pension to an amount which, when added to that then earned by him or earnable by him in municipal service so offered him, shall not exceed the amount of the final compensation on the basis of which his pension was determined. A beneficiary restored to active service at a salary less than the final average salary upon the basis of which he was retired shall not become a member of the Police Pension Fund while receiving any pension.
C. 
Should a disability beneficiary be restored to active service at a salary not less than his final average salary, his retirement allowance shall cease, he shall again become a member of the Police Pension Fund, and he shall contribute to said find thereafter in the same manner and at the same rate as he paid prior to his disability. Any prior service and member service on the basis of which service was computed at the time of his retirement shall be restored to full force and effect; and in addition, upon his subsequent retirement, he shall be credited with all his service as a member subsequent to his last restoration to membership.
Any officer or members of said Police Department who shall hereafter relinquish his membership in said Police Department, except as provided in § 42-16 of this article, shall forfeit all rights and privileges in connection with the Police Pension Fund.
All moneys ordered to be paid out of the Police Pension Fund to any person or persons shall be paid by the Treasurer of the fund only upon warrant signed by the President of the Board of Trustees thereof and countersigned by the Secretary thereof, and no warrant shall be drawn except by order of the Board of Trustees duly entered in the record of the proceedings of the Board. The Board of Trustees is hereby authorized to deposit the fund in any of the banks or trust companies in the City of Albany upon receiving adequate security therefor or to invest the same in the bonds or other obligations of the City or in bonds of the United States or of this state issued pursuant to the authority of the laws of this state. The Board may purchase at par the whole or any part of the issue of the bonds of the City on account of the fund for investment purposes. All interest, income or dividends which shall be paid or agreed to be paid on account of the fund shall constitute a part thereof. Nothing herein contained shall, however, be construed as authorizing the Treasurer of the fund to invest, loan or deposit any part thereof unless so authorized by the Board.
The Board of Trustees of these funds may take by gift, grant, devise or bequest, and hold free from taxation, any real or personal property, the annual income of which shall not exceed in the aggregate the sum of $30,000 for the benefit thereof.
The Corporation Counsel of the City, without additional compensation, shall, under the direction of the Treasurer, take charge of the prosecution and defense of all suits or proceedings instituted by or against the Board of Trustees on account of or in the discharge of their trust. And the Treasurer thereof is hereby authorized to settle or compromise any suit or judgment for less than the amount of the same, with the consent of the Board of Trustees.
Any officer or board of officers of the City who shall realize, receive or derive any money which, under the provisions of law, constitute a part of the pension fund, is hereby directed to pay over the same on the first day of the month succeeding the receipt and collection thereof to the Treasurer of the Board of Trustees thereof, to be used and applied as a part of the fund.
All pensions and benefits granted under the provisions of this article and property purchased from the proceeds thereof shall be exempt from execution, attachment or any process whatever. The funds shall be sacredly kept and held secure and distributed and applied for the purpose of pensioning and insuring the persons named herein and for no other purpose whatsoever.
Any person who shall willfully or knowingly swear falsely in any oath or affirmation in obtaining or procuring any pension or the payment thereof under the provisions of this article shall be guilty of perjury.
All pensions heretofore granted shall continue at the same rate and under the same conditions as when granted, notwithstanding the passage of this article.
The repeal of a law, or any part of it, specified in this article or otherwise, by the provisions of this article, shall not affect or impair any act done or right accruing, accrued or acquired, or penalty, forfeiture or punishment incurred prior to the time when this article takes effect under or by virtue of the laws so repealed, but the same may be asserted, enforced, prosecuted or inflicted, as fully and to the same extent as if such law had not been repealed. The provisions of this article, so far as they are substantially the same, or cover the same subject matter, as those of any law repealed hereby, shall be construed as a continuance of such repealed law, modified or amended, according to the language employed herein and not as new enactments.
Said Board of Trustees may, in its discretion, pay the pension of said minor child or children to the mother or to their general or testamentary guardian or to the person or persons who shall have the care and custody of said minor child or children, and the decision of said Board of Trustees as to what is deemed for the best interests of said minor child or children may be reviewed by the surrogate of the County of Albany, State of New York, and payment according to its determination of the pensions and allowances herein provided for shall be full discharge for the money so paid.
This article shall apply to all who are now officers or members of the Police Department, but none of the provisions of this article or any amending state or local law shall apply to any member appointed on or after June 1, 1940, but in place and instead of membership in said Police Pension Fund of the City of Albany, such appointee or appointees shall be entitled to membership in the New York State Employees Retirement System and entitled to all of the pensions, retirement benefits, emolument or awards as are provided for in Chapter 741, Article 4 of the Laws of 1920, and Chapter 591, Article 5 of the Laws of 1922, as the same have from time to time been amended and renumbered. The City of Albany, New York, hereby gives its consent and approval to such membership and/or memberships in the New York State Employees Retirement System of all members of such Albany Police Department who shall be appointed on and after June 1, 1940.
This article shall be known as "Local Law No. 1 of 1940" and is intended to change and supersede Subdivisions 4, 5 and 7 of Section l, Subdivision 1 of Section 4 of Chapter 375 of the Laws of 1920, as amended by Local Law No. 6 of 1936, and to add two new sections thereto numbered 14 and 15.