Arizona Revised Statutes § 38-905.02 Future Benefit Increases For Retirees And Survivors; Applicability

38-905.02. Future benefit increases for retirees and survivors; applicability

A. Effective July 1, 2013 and each July 1 thereafter, each retired member or survivor of a retired member is entitled to receive a permanent increase in the base benefit equal to the amount determined pursuant to this section if benefit increase monies are available.

B. The retired member or survivor of a retired member is eligible to receive an increase as follows:

1. If the retired member became a member of the plan before January 1, 2012:

(a) The retired member or the survivor of a retired member was receiving benefits on or before July 31 of the two previous years.

(b) The retired member or survivor of a retired member was fifty-five years of age or older on July 1 of the current year and was receiving benefits on or before July 31 of the previous year.

2. If the retired member became a member of the plan on or after January 1, 2012:

(a) The retired member or survivor of a retired member was fifty-five years of age or older on July 1 of the current year and is receiving benefits.

(b) The retired member was under fifty-five years of age on July 1 of the current year, was receiving an accidental disability retirement benefit and was receiving benefits on or before July 31 of the two previous years.

(c) A survivor was under fifty-five years of age on July 1 of the current year, is the survivor of a member who was killed in the line of duty and was receiving benefits on or before July 31 of the two previous years.

C. Subject to subsection D, the maximum benefit increase under this section is limited to the following:

1. If the ratio of the actuarial value of assets to the actuarial accrued liability of the fund is sixty per cent or more but less than sixty-five per cent and the total return is more than ten and one-half per cent for the fiscal year ending June 30 of the calendar year preceding the July 1 of the increase, two per cent of the benefit being received on the preceding June 30.

2. If the ratio of the actuarial value of assets to the actuarial accrued liability of the fund is sixty-five per cent or more but less than seventy per cent and the total return is more than ten and one-half per cent for the fiscal year ending June 30 of the calendar year preceding the July 1 of the increase, two and one-half per cent of the benefit being received on the preceding June 30.

3. If the ratio of the actuarial value of assets to the actuarial accrued liability of the fund is seventy per cent or more but less than seventy-five per cent and the total return is more than ten and one-half per cent for the fiscal year ending June 30 of the calendar year preceding the July 1 of the increase, three per cent of the benefit being received on the preceding June 30.

4. If the ratio of the actuarial value of assets to the actuarial accrued liability of the fund is seventy-five per cent or more but less than eighty per cent and the total return is more than ten and one-half per cent for the fiscal year ending June 30 of the calendar year preceding the July 1 of the increase, three and one-half per cent of the benefit being received on the preceding June 30.

5. If the ratio of the actuarial value of assets to the actuarial accrued liability of the fund is eighty per cent or more and the total return is more than ten and one-half per cent for the fiscal year ending June 30 of the calendar year preceding the July 1 of the increase, four per cent of the benefit being received on the preceding June 30.

D. A permanent increase in benefits is available only if the fund attains a total return of more than ten and one-half per cent for the fiscal year ending June 30 of the calendar year preceding the July 1 of the increase. The amount of monies available to fully fund the present value of the appropriate percentage increase allowed by subsection C in any year is one hundred per cent of the earnings of the fund that exceed ten and one-half per cent of the total return of the fund for the fiscal year ending June 30 of the calendar year preceding the July 1 of the increase. If one hundred per cent of the earnings of the fund that exceed ten and one-half per cent of the total return is insufficient to fully fund the present value of the appropriate percentage increase allowed by subsection C, the percentage increase is limited to that percentage the present value of which can be fully funded by the benefit increase monies available.

E. Any earnings in excess of the amount necessary to fully pay the amount prescribed in subsection C are not available for future benefit increases in the following years and revert back to the appropriate employer accounts.

F. For the purposes of this section:

1. Total return is the amount published in the annual report of the plan for the fiscal year ending June 30 of the calendar year preceding the July 1 of the increase.

2. The ratio of the actuarial value of assets to the actuarial accrued liability of the fund is the number determined by the administrator for the fiscal year ending June 30 of the calendar year preceding the July 1 of the increase.

G. This section does not apply if monies are available pursuant to section 38-905 for benefit increases for retired members or survivors of the plan.

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Last modified: October 13, 2016