(a) Elected officials. (1) Each officer shall be eligible to become a member of the system by exercising the option hereby given in the manner and within the time provided for in this subsection and not thereafter.
(2) Any person who is an officer may exercise such option within 90 days from the date upon which such person shall officially take office.
(3) An officer desiring to become a member under this subsection shall deliver to the city director of finance, within the time above specified, a signed statement reciting that the officer elects to become a member of the system. The election thus made shall be irrevocable. After electing to become a member, an officer shall be subject to all burdens and entitled to all rights attached to membership in the system, including the subjection of the officer to salary deductions and entitlement to contributions by the city on his or her behalf to the fund in accordance with this subpart, for salary deductions and contributions by the city to the pension fund on behalf of members of the system.
(4)a. As herein used, the term prior service means a person’s service as an officer prior to such officer’s entering the system; the term liability for unpaid contributions means the liability an officer shall discharge to convert his or her prior service to credited service, the amount of which liability shall be the sum of these two amounts:
1. The sum of all contributions the officer would have paid the system from his or her salary during such officer’s prior service had his or her salary been subject to deductions for contributions, at the rate applicable when the officer received such salary.
2. Interest at the rate of four percent per annum prior to July 1, 2006, and used in the most recent earnings assumption in the actuarial report compounded annually thereafter, on each separate contribution the officer would have made to the system had the officer been a member during his or her prior service calculated from the date whereon such officer would have made such contribution had such officer been a member of the system to the date he or she pays such contribution.
b. No officer shall receive credit for pension purposes for prior service unless he or she converts such prior service to credited service as herein provided.
(5) When an officer becomes a member of the system the officer may then, but not thereafter, elect to convert prior service to credited service. Upon electing to convert his or her prior service to credited service the officer shall then discharge his or her liability for unpaid contributions in one of the manners prescribed in the two sentences next following. The officer may discharge such liability by then paying to the system the full amount of such liability. Unless the officer then discharges in full such liability, at the end of each payroll period following the officer’s election to convert prior service to credited service, the city, in addition to deductions from the officer’s salary and expense allowance to the extent that the option to include expense allowances is to be included in pension calculations and is subject to pension contributions, otherwise provided for, shall deduct from such salary, and expense allowance as necessary, for each payroll period an amount equal to five percent prior to July 1, 2006, and the rate used in the current employees’ rate of contribution subsequent thereto, of such liability for unpaid contributions, together with interest thereon at the rate used in the most recent earnings assumption in the actuarial report compounded annually per annum from the date whereon the officer enters the system until such liability, including interest, is fully discharged.
(6) Contemporaneously with the officer’s discharging his or her liability for unpaid contributions for all or any part of such officer’s prior service converted to credited service, or with the city’s making any payment to the general employees’ system through salary deductions to discharge such liability, the city shall pay to the fund of the general employees’ system from the general funds of the city an amount equal to the sum of these two amounts:
a. The sum of all payments the city would have made from the general funds of the city to the fund of the general employees’ pension system if the officer had been a member of the system during all of that period of prior service which he or she converts to credited service.
b. Interest at the rate of four percent per annum prior to July 1, 2006, and six percent compounded annually per annum subsequent thereto, on each separate payment the city would have made to the fund from the general funds of the city from the dates on which the city would have made the respective payments had the officer been a member of the system on the date on which the city makes such payments.
(b) Appointed employees. Each appointed employee shall be eligible to become a member of the system by exercising the option hereby given in the manner and within the time provided for in this subsection and not thereafter. An appointed employee desiring to become a member under this subsection shall deliver to the city director of finance officer, within 30 days of employment if hired before July 1, 2006, and 90 days if hired subsequent thereto, a statement signed by him or her reciting that he or she elects to become a member of the system. The election thus made shall be irrevocable. After electing to become a member, an appointed employee shall be subject to all burdens and entitled to all rights attached to membership in the system, including the subjection of the appointed employee to salary deductions and entitlement to contributions by the city on his or her behalf to the fund in accordance with this subpart, for salary deductions and contributions by the city to the pension fund on behalf of members of the system.
(c) Unclassified service. Each qualified employee of the city who was in the unclassified service prior to January 1, 1989, shall have been eligible to participate in the system provided such qualified employee elected in writing to so participate within 15 days of his or her first having become a qualified employee in the unclassified service; or each qualified employee of the city who is in the unclassified service or is newly hired or rehired on or after January 1, 1989, by the city as provided in subsection (d) shall be eligible to participate in the system.
(d) Unclassified service. Effective January 1, 1989, each newly hired or rehired employee of the city who is in the unclassified service and who is normally scheduled to work 16 days per month or more, shall be a participant in the system. Each such employee who was employed by the city on January 1, 1989, and immediately preceding such day, shall have had the option (1) to elect to continue to participate in any unclassified pension plan which was provided by the city, thereby permanently and irrevocably waiving any credit in this system under this provision; or (2) to have elected participation in this system not later than May 15, 1989. Selection of option (2) gave such participant the right to purchase prior unclassified service as described in Section 45-37A-51.198.
Last modified: May 3, 2021