PRINTER'S NO. 3174

THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA


HOUSE BILL

No. 2297 Session of 1986


        INTRODUCED BY TRELLO, IRVIS, MOWERY, FRYER, VAN HORNE, FEE,
           BATTISTO, HALUSKA, COLAFELLA AND A. C. FOSTER, JR., MARCH 19,
           1986

        REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON FINANCE, MARCH 19, 1986

                                     AN ACT

     1  Amending the act of May 28, 1915 (P.L.596, No.259), entitled "An
     2     act requiring cities of the second class to establish a
     3     pension fund for employes of said cities, and regulating the
     4     administration and the payment of such pensions," further
     5     providing for payments by contributors and the city to the
     6     board of pensions.

     7     The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
     8  hereby enacts as follows:
     9     Section 1.  Section 4.1 of the act of May 28, 1915 (P.L.596,
    10  No.259), referred to as the Second Class City Employe Pension
    11  Law, amended May 2, 1961 (P.L.171, No.83) and August 24, 1961
    12  (P.L.1131, No.505), is amended to read:
    13     Section 4.1.  In every city of the second class, in addition
    14  to the pension which is authorized by law and notwithstanding
    15  the limitations therein placed upon pensions and upon
    16  contributions, every contributor who shall have otherwise become
    17  entitled to the pension and who has reached the age of fifty
    18  years shall also be entitled to the payment of a service
    19  increment in accordance with and subject to the conditions


     1  hereinafter set forth:
     2     (1)  Service increment shall be the sum obtained by computing
     3  the number of whole years after the completion of twenty years
     4  service during which a contributor has been employed by the city
     5  and paid out of the city treasury and multiplying the number of
     6  years so computed by an amount equal to five dollars ($5) for
     7  each month of service beyond twenty years of service. This sum
     8  shall be divided by twelve to arrive at the monthly increment
     9  payment. In computing the service increment, no employment after
    10  the contributor has reached the age of sixty-five years shall be
    11  included, and no service increment shall be paid in excess of
    12  one hundred dollars ($100) per month.
    13     (2)  [Each] Except to the extent that section 607(c) of the
    14  act of December 18, 1984 (P.L.1005, No.205), known as the
    15  "Municipal Pension Plan Funding Standard and Recovery Act,"
    16  applies, each contributor, from and after the effective date of
    17  this amendment, shall pay into the retirement fund as the
    18  contribution to the increment fund a monthly sum in addition to
    19  his or her retirement contribution, which shall be equal to one-
    20  half of one per centum of his or her salary. Such payment shall
    21  not exceed the sum of one dollar per month. The service
    22  increment contribution shall not be paid after a contributor has
    23  reached the age of sixty-five years.
    24     (3)  Persons, who are contributors on the effective date of
    25  this amendment, who have already reached the age of sixty-five
    26  years, shall have his or her service increment computed on the
    27  years of employment prior to the date of reaching his or her
    28  sixty-fifth birthday. Such person, however, shall be entitled to
    29  the increment only by paying in the one dollar ($1) per month
    30  contribution for the number of months his or her service exceeds
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     1  twenty years, but such contribution shall not exceed a total of
     2  one hundred dollars ($100).
     3     (4)  Service increment contributions shall be paid at the
     4  same time and in the same manner as pension contributions, and
     5  may be withdrawn in full, without interest, by persons who leave
     6  the employment of the city, subject to the same conditions by
     7  which pension contributions may be withdrawn or by persons who
     8  retire before becoming entitled to any service increment. When
     9  any person is reemployed by the city after withdrawal of pension
    10  contributions, his or her prior service shall not be used in the
    11  computation of service increment unless the amount of such
    12  contributions be repaid into the pension fund, subject to the
    13  same conditions by which pension fund withdrawals are permitted
    14  to be repaid.
    15     (5)  All employes of the city who are now contributors to the
    16  pension fund and all persons who are employed by the city after
    17  the effective date of this amendment, who are required to become
    18  contributors to the pension fund, shall be subject to the
    19  provisions of this section.
    20     Section 2.  Section 5 of the act, amended January 14, 1970
    21  (1969 P.L.516, No.194), is amended to read:
    22     Section 5.  [The] Except to the extent that section 607(c) of
    23  the act of December 18, 1984 (P.L.1005, No.205), known as the
    24  "Municipal Pension Plan Funding Standard and Recovery Act,"
    25  applies, the city employes shall, after the passage of this act,
    26  pay unto the board of pensions monthly an amount equal to not
    27  less than two nor more than five per centum of their monthly
    28  salaries or wages, as fixed by the board of pensions; in no
    29  event, however, paying at a rate greater than thirty-two dollars
    30  and fifty cents per month, which shall be applied to the
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     1  purposes of this act. Payment of the monthly amount or
     2  contribution herein mentioned shall cease and be discontinued at
     3  the time the beneficiary received the pension herein provided if
     4  such beneficiary has so contributed to the pension fund during a
     5  period of twenty years. If at the time the beneficiary received
     6  the pension herein provided he or she shall not have been a
     7  contributor to the pension fund during a period of twenty years,
     8  such person shall be required to pay unto the board of pensions
     9  an amount equal to such amount as he or she would have been
    10  required to contribute had he or she contributed during such
    11  period as required by this act, until such time as his or her
    12  contributions shall have extended during a period of twenty
    13  years. If, for any cause, an employe contributing to the pension
    14  fund shall cease to be an employe of any such cities of the
    15  second class before said employe becomes entitled to the pension
    16  conferred by this act, the total amount of the contributions
    17  paid unto the pension fund by such employe shall be refunded to
    18  him or her in full without interest unless he or she has less
    19  than full pension rights under the provisions of section four of
    20  this act, and elects at once to exercise such rights by keeping
    21  such contributions in the fund and making such further payments
    22  as may be required: Provided, however, If any such employe shall
    23  have returned to him or her the amount contributed, as
    24  aforesaid, and shall afterwards reenter the employ of such city,
    25  said employe shall not be entitled to the pension designated
    26  until twenty years after said reemployment, unless he or she
    27  shall return to the pension fund the amount withdrawn; in which
    28  event the period of twenty years shall be computed from the time
    29  the said employe first entered the service of said city. In the
    30  event of the death of any such employe before the said employe
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     1  becomes entitled to the pension aforesaid, the said total amount
     2  of contributions aforesaid shall be paid over to such person or
     3  persons as he or she shall have designated in writing and filed
     4  with the board of pensions as his or her beneficiary or to his
     5  or her estate.
     6     Section 3.  Section 9 of the act, amended May 14, 1925
     7  (P.L.742, No.404), is amended to read:
     8     Section 9.  The public authorities of every city of the
     9  second class, charged with the disbursements, expenditures, and
    10  appropriations, shall annually set aside, apportion, and
    11  appropriate, out of all taxes and income of the said cities,
    12  unto the board of pensions, a sum sufficient to [maintain the
    13  pensions or compensations due under this act. If the total
    14  disbursements from the pension fund for the payment of pensions,
    15  refund of contributions of employes, and administration expenses
    16  shall exceed in any year the total revenues of the pension fund
    17  from the contributions of employes and the interest and premiums
    18  earned on investments and bank deposits, then the amount to be
    19  set aside, apportioned, and appropriated by the public
    20  authorities of such city of the second class to the pension fund
    21  shall not be less than the difference between the total
    22  disbursements and receipts of the pension fund, as aforesaid.]
    23  meet the minimum obligation of the municipality with respect to
    24  the pension plan pursuant to the act of December 18, 1984
    25  (P.L.1005, No.205), known as the "Municipal Pension Plan Funding
    26  Standard and Recovery Act."
    27     Section 4.  This act shall take effect immediately.


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