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Home My WebLink AboutOrdinance 9817ORDINANCE N0. ~~~ AN ORDINANCE AMENDING DIVISION 2 OF CHAPTER 2, °'ADMINIS- TRATION" , OF THE CODE OF THE CITY OF FORT WORTH ( 1986) , AS AMENDED, WHICH GOVERNS THE FUND FROM WHICH LUMP SUM PAYMENTS SHALL BE MADE UPON THE DEATH OF RETIRED MEMBERS OF THE EMPLOYEES' RETIREMENT FUND OF THE CITY OF FORT WORTH; PROVIDING FOR APPROPRIATI(JNS; ADDIING DEFINITIONS; CHANGING THE CONDITIONS UNDER WHICH PAYMENTS SHALL BE MADE; PROVIDING FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF SUCH FUND; MAKING THIS ORDINANCE CUMULATIVE AND REPEALING ALL OTHER ORDINANCES IN CONFLICT HEREWITH; PROVIDING A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE; PROVIDING FOR THE ENGROSSMENT AND ENROLLMENT OF THIS ORDINANCE; AND DECLARING AN F~FFECTIVE DATE. BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FORT WORTH, TEXAS: SECTION 1 . That Section 2-227 of Chapter 2, '°Administration", of the Code of the City of Fort Worth (1986), as amended, be and is hereby amended to read as follows: "2-227 Appropriations to Fund. The City shall continue to annually appropriate to the Retired Employees Death Benefit Fund such amount or amouni:s as may be necessary to provide the lump sum payments hereinafter set forth in Section 2-229 and to maintain the Retired Employees Death Benefit Fund in an actuarially sound condition. Such appropriations shall continue to be made from current revenues, and, in the event such current revenues are insufficient, the City shall compute, ascertain and levy an ad valorem tax sufficient to raise and produce the money required to appropriate and pay any additional sums which may become due during any :>uch year. The City shall levy a sufficient tax from year to year to provide the revenue from which such appropriaitions may be made." SECT ION 2. That Section 2-228 of Chapter 2, "Administration", of the Code of the City of Fort Worth (1986), ass amended, be and is hereby amended to read as follows: "2-228 Definitions. With reference to the Retired Employees Death Benefit Fund, the following words, terms and phrases shall have the meanings ascribed to them here- in, except where the context clearly indicates a different meaning: Administrator shall mean the individual appointed by the City Manager, subject to the ,approval of the Board of Trustees, to supervise the operation of the fund. Board shall mean the Board of Trustees of the Employees' Retirement. Fund of the City of Fort Worth. Designated Beneficiaries eligible to receive the death benefit hereunder shall include the member's surviving legitimate children, legitimate grandchildren and legiti- mate great grandchildren. Filing shall mean for purposes of determining the surviv- ing designated beneficiary the date when the beneficiary designation card is actually received by the Retirement Office. Legitimate children shall mean those children legitimate to their respective parent(s), as legitimacy is defined by the Texas Family Code and the Texas Probate Code, Revised Civil Statutes of Texas, as amended. Legitimate grandchildren shall mean those grandchildren whose parent is a legitimate child of the member and who are legitimate to their respective parent(s), as legiti- macy is defined by the Texas F?amily Code and the Texas Probate Code, Revised Civil Statutes of Texas, as amended. Legitimate great grandchildren shall mean those great grandchildren whose grandparent is a child of the member and who are legitimate to their respective parent(s), as legitimacy is defined by the Z'exas Family Code and the Texas Probate Code, Revised Civil Statutes of Texas, as amended. Members shall mean the eligible employees of the City of Fort Worth who are participants in the Employees' Retire- ment Fund of the City of Fort Worth. Surviving spouse shall mean the widow or widower legally married to the member at least one (1) year immediately prior to his retirement from the City of Fort Worth and at the time of his death. -2- SECTION 3. That Section 2-229 of Chapter 2, "Administration", of the Code of the City of Fort Worth (1986), a,s amended, be and is hereby amended to read as follows: "2-229 Entitlement to Death benefit. When a member of the Employees' Retirement Fund of the City of Fort Worth dies subsequent to retirement from active employment with the City of Fort Worth, the surviving spouse shall be entitled to receive a lump sum payment (in addition to benefits provided by the Employees' Retirement Fund of the City of Fort Worth) of $3,000.00 if such member was covered immediately preceding retirement for a period of not less than five consecutive years under the City's Group Life Insurance Plan. If the deceased member leaves no surviving spouse, has filed a beneficiary designation card with the Retirement Office naming a surviving designated benefi- ciary as defined herein, and was covered immediately pre- ceding retirement for a period of not less than five consecutive years under the City's Group Life Insurance Plan, then, in that event, a lump sum payment of $3,000.00 shall be made in full to said surviving designated benefi- ciary. If the first surviving designated beneficiary does not claim the death benefit within ninety (90) days, the death benefit shall be paid in full to the second desig- nated beneficiary, who shall also have ninety (90) days to claim said benefit. If the second surviving beneficiary does not claim the death benefit within ninety (90) days, then said benefit shall be paid in full to the estate of the deceased member. If the deceased member leaves no surviving spouse or sur- viving designated beneficiary anti was covered immediately preceding retirement for a period of not less than five consecutive years under the City's Group Life Insurance Plan, then, in that event, a lump sum payment of $3,000.00 shall be made to the estate of the deceased member. The lump sum payment herein provided shall be made in lieu of any payments to which the survivors or estate of the de- ceased member would have been entitled under the City's Group Life Insurance Plan during the member's period of active employment with the City." SECT ION 4 . That Section 2-230 of Chapter 2, "Administration", of the Code of the City of Fort Worth (1986), <~s amended, be and is hereby amended to read as follows: -3- "2-230 Administrator of Death Benefit Fund. The Adminis- trator of the Employees' Retirement Fund of the City of Fort Worth shall be charged with the duty of making the lump sum payments herein provided for, and such payments shall be made solely from funds appropriated by the City Council for such purpose. The Administrator shall maintain such records as may be necessary in the administration of . the Retired Employees Death Benefit Fund. The Adminis- trator shall maintain a special accounting of the funds heretofore and hereby appropriated, and the Administrator shall not make any payments authorized hereunder from funds contributed by the employees or the City under the provisions of the Employees' Retirement Fund of the City of Fort Worth or from earnings on such contributions." SECTION 5 . That Section 2-231 be added to Chapter 2, "Administration", of the Code of the City of Fort Worth (1986), as amended, to read as follows: "2-231 Board of Trustees. The Board of Trustees of the Employees' Retirement Fund of the City of Fort Worth shall act on behalf of the City Council of the City of Fort Worth as trustees of the Retired Employees Death Benefit Fund under the same provisions, regulations and procedures as provided in Retirement Ordinance of the City for the investment of funds of the Emplayees' Retirement fund of the City of Fort Worth. All records and earnings on the assets of the Retired Employees Death Benefit Fund shall be maintained separate and apart from assets and earnings of the Employees' Retirement Fund of the City of Fort worth . " SECT ION 7 . This ordinance shall be cumulative of all provisions of ordi- nances and of the Code of the City of Fort Worth, Texas ( 1986) , as amended, except where the provisions of this ordinance are in direct conflict with the provisions of such ordinances and such Code, in which event conflicting provisions of such ordinances and such Code are hereby repealed. -4- SECTION 8. Ifs any provision, section, part, subsection, sentence, clause, phrase or paragraph be declared invalid or unconstitutional, the same shall not affect any other portion or provision hereof, and all other provisions shall remain valid and unaffected toy any invalid portion, if any, and the City Council now says that, if it had known at the time of passage that any portion of said ordinance was in- valid, it would not have adopted such invalid part. SECT ION 9 . The City Secretary of the City of Fort Worth is hereby directed to engross and enroll this ordinance by copying the caption and effective date in the minutes of the City Council and by filing the ordinance in the ordinance records of the City. SECTION 10. This ordinance shall be in full force and effect from and after its passage, and it is so ordained. APPROVED AS TO FORM ND LEGALITY: City Attorney Date : 1 ' 2~ `~~~ ADOPTED EFFECTIVE : ~j ~ __ __ -5- ~nASre~~,LE. a ~RAN&P_ORTATIANjPUSLIC .1KYRV~11"71(~/ ~/ ® 0 1riA~f R AOMINI ' F NpNt`F,1, ~~ty ~f ' 1F'~~°t ~~~°th, ~~~~~ 4 ~ _ DATE REFERENCE NUMBER SUBJECT AMENDMENT TO DEATH BENEFIT PAGE 2/10/87 ORpINANCE TO ALLOW DESIGNATION OF 1 G-6950 BENEFICIARY 1 of RECOMP9ENOATION It is recommended that the City Council adopt the attached amended Death Benefit Ordinance concerning the Employees' Retirement Fund of the City of Fort Worth, which amends Division 2, "Retired Employees' Group Death Benefit Fund" of Chapter 2 of the Code of the City of Fort Worth. DISCUSSION On January 26, 1970, the City Council adopted Ordinance No. 6235 which established the Retired Employees' Group Death Benefit Fund t o make lump sum payments upon the death of retired members of the Employees' Retirement Fund of the City of Fort Worth. According to the current Ordinances, such payments are made to the surviving spouse, otherwise, the payment is made to the deceased member's estate. The recommended amended Death Benefit Ordinance allows a member of the Retirement Fund to designate or change his/her beneficiary from the eligible beneficiary class, which includes, in addition to surviving spouse, legitimate children, legitimate grandchildren or legitimate great grandchildren but not their heirs. As under the previous Ordinance, the surviving spouse must be married to the employee at least one year prior t o his retirement and at the time of the employee's death. DAI/sfggq APP~ROUED BY ` CITY COUNCIL. ~~s ~o ~~sT ~~.~.,. C~~ see=®~~ O: Cbty of Fort Wosth~ 't~7ccl~ SUBMITTED FOR IMt CITY MANAGER'S OFFICE BY DISPOSITION BY COUNCIL. PROCESSED BY C APPROVED ORIGINATING OTHER (DESCRIBE) DEPARTMENT HEAD J Bailiff CITY SECRETARY FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ~ CONTACT G Ni col ai des 6620 ,~ Ado ted Ordinance No. ~~w~~~ DATE