HomeMy WebLinkAboutOrdinance 13673ORDINANCE NO.
AN ORDINANCE AMENDING ORDINANCE NOS 2999, 4060, 4250, 4304, 4354, 4430,
4860, 4861, 4873, 4875, 5226, 5259, 6393, 6556, 7056, 7317, 7875, 8674, 8843, 9247, 9532,
10081, 10291, 10369, 10385, 10564, 10607, 10679, 11126, 11238, 11401, 11412, 11558, 11608,
11716, 12686, 13428 AND 13543 CODIFIED AS CHAPTER 2, ARTICLE VI, DIVISION 1,
ENTITLED "EMPLOYEES' RETIREMENT FUND," OF THE CODE OF THE CITY OF
FORT WORTH (1986), AS AMENDED, WHICH ORDINANCES ESTABLISH AND
PROVIDE FOR A RETIREMENT SYSTEM, RETIREMENT PLAN AND BENEFITS
THEREUNDER FOR EMPLOYEES OF THE CITY OF FORT WORTH, PROVIDING FOR
THE MANDATORY MEMBER CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE RETIREMENT FUND TO BE
PICKED UP BY THE CITY AND HENCE MADE ON A PRE-TAX BASIS, PROVIDING
THAT MEMBER CONTRIBUTIONS MAY BE INCREASED WITHOUT AN INCREASE IN
CITY CONTRIBUTIONS IN CONNECTION WITH THE CONVERSION TO A PICK-UP
PLAN, PROVIDING FOR THE DEFINITION OF EARNINGS TO INCLUDE MANDATORY
MEMBER PRE-TAX CONTRIBUTIONS
BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FORT WORTH,
TEXAS
That Ordinance No 2999, passed and adopted by the City Council of the City of Fort
Worth on the 24th day of September, A.D 1952, as amended by Ordinance Nos. 4060, 4250,
4304, 4354, 4430, 4860, 4861, 4873, 4875, 5226, 5259, 6393, 6556, 7056, 7317, 7875, 8674,
8843, 9247, 9532, 10081, 10291, 10369, 10385, 10564, 10607, 10679, 11126, 11238, 11401,
11412, 11558, 11608, 11716, 12686, 13428 and 13543 be and the same is hereby amended as
follows
SECTION 1
That Chapter 2, Article VI, Division 1, Section 2-201, "Definitions," of the Code of the
City of Fort Worth (1986), as amended, be and is hereby further amended by deleting Section M,
"Earnings," and substituting the following language in lieu thereof, to wit:
"M. 'Earnings' shall mean the amount actually paid to an employee by the City
for services rendered to the City during the calendar year, plus overtime,
acting, assignment, holiday, longevity, educational incentive, safety award,
incentive and sluff differential pay, as reported on the employee's W-2
Form. Regardless of the fact that the following payments may be shown
upon an employee's W-2 Form, Earnings shall not include (1) any non-
salary allowance (such as uniform reimbursement, automobile allowance or
mileage, etc.), (2} lump sum payments received at time of termination for
unused vacation leave, sick leave and personal leave, (3) any award by a
court, administrative body, or settlement agreement in excess of Earnings,
and (4) any amount paid to an employee for which the City does not
contribute to the Fund under Sec 2-204 However, an employee
participating m aCity-sponsored deferred compensation plan shall have the
amount of any deferred compensation credited to that employee during the
calendar year added to earnings reported on the employee's W-2 Form to
arrive at total earnings for Retirement Fund matters. Mandatory Member
contributions that are picked-up by the City and excluded from a Member's
W-2 Form shall also be included as part of earnings for Retirement Fund
purposes. Notwithstanding the foregoing, earnings in excess of $160,000,
if any (or such other amounts as may be determined by taking into account
the cost-of-living adjustment provided under section 401(a) (17) of the
Code), shall be disregarded for all purposes of this Ordinance."
SECTION 2.
That Chapter 2, Article VI, Division 1, Section 2-203, "Member's Contributions," of the
Code of the City of Fort Worth (1986), as amended, be and is hereby further amended by deleting
Section B, and substituting the following language m lieu thereof, to wit:
"B The contribution percentage of all Members may be raised at any
time from the amount stated in this section to a higher amount, as
regulated by Article 6243k of the Texas Revised Civil Statutes as
amended, upon a vote in the favor of such raise by seventy-five
percent (75%) of only the affected Members voting at an election
2
called for that purpose by the Board or the City Council, provided
that such raise shall not be effective unless the City Council shall,
by Ordinance or Resolution, also agree that the City shall increase
its contributions to the Fund by at least an equal percentage
increase. Notwithstanding the preceding sentence, the City shall
not have to increase rts contributions to the Fund for an increase m
Member contributions to the Fund to be effective, provided the
increase m Member contributions occurs m connection with the
conversion of the Retirement Ordinance to a "pick-up" plan within
the meaning of Code Section 414(h) and the increase in Member
contributions is, in the aggregate, substantially offset by a decrease
m the federal income taxes payable by Members due to the
conversion to a pick-up plan."
SECTION 3
That Chapter 2, Article VI, Division 1, Section 2-204, "City's Contributions," of the Code of the
City of Fort Worth (1986), as amended, be and is hereby further amended by substituting the
following language in lieu thereof, to wit:
3
"Sec 2-204 CITY'S CONTRIBUTIONS
For Police Officer Members only, effective October 1, 1996, the City shall
contribute to the Fund mne and seventy-eight one-hundredths percent
(9 78%) of their Earnings; effective October 1, 1997, the City's
contribution shall increase to ten and thirty-four one-hundredths percent
(10 34%); effective October 1, 1998, the City's contribution shall increase
to ten and nine-tenths percent (10 9%); and effective October 1, 1999, the
City's contribution shall increase to eleven and forty-six one-hundredths
percent (11 46%). For all other Members, effective October 1, 1996, the
City shall contribute to the Fund nine and six one-hundredths percent
(9 06%) of their Earnings; effective October 1, 1997, the City's
contribution shall increase to nine and sixty-two one-hundredths percent
.~ (9 62%); effective October 1, 1998, the City's contribution shall increase to
ten and eighteen one-hundredths percent (10 18%); and effective October
1, 1999, the City's contribution shall increase to ten and seventy-four one-
hundredths percent (10 74%) Notwithstanding the foregoing, City
Contributions to the Fund shall be reduced for each Fiscal Year by the
amount of benefits paid by the City, if any, under the Supplemental
Retirement Ordinance. Sec. 2-203 shall not limit the right of the City
Council, through its budget appropriation, to contribute an additional
amount over and above the Members' contributions, in accordance with
article 6243k of the Texas Revised Civil Statutes, as amended.
Effective for pay periods ending after April 1, 1999, the required Member
contributions described m Sec 2-203.A shall be "picked up" by the City
and shall be treated as City contributions for federal income tax purposes.
Such contributions, although designated as Member contributions, shall be
paid by the City on behalf of the Members and in lieu of contributions by
4
the Members. The Members shall not have the option of receiving such
contributions directly instead of having such amounts paid by the City to
the Fund."
SECTION 4
That provisions of this Ordinance shall be cumulative of and in addition to all other
ordinances of the City of Fort Worth relating to pensions, which ordinances are hereby preserved
and continued m force and effect; provided, however, that m the event of any conflict, the
provisions of this Ordinance shall control.
SECTION 5
If any provision, section, part, subsection, sentence, clause, phrase or paragraph of this
Ordinance 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 by any invalid portion,
if any, and the City Council now says that if it had known at the time of the passage of this
Ordinance that any portion of said Ordinance was invalid, it would not have adopted such invalid
part.
SECTION 6
The City Council finds that all acts, conditions and things required by provisions of the
Constitution of Texas and Charter and Ordinances of the City of Fort Worth precedent to and in
the adoption of this Ordinance have been done, have happened and have been performed in proper
and lawful time.
SECTION 7
This Ordinance shall be in full force and effect from and after April 1, 1999 and it is so
ordasned.
APPROVED AS TO FORM AND LEGALITY
6 a~jCITY ATTO
5
~r
DATE. J~ ~~
ADOPTED l'S'' yy
V EDALOI :BOA485/58000l54337 l
City of Fort Worth, Texas
~1-~Ayar And C,aunc~l ~ammun~ccrt~an
DATE REFERENCE NUMBER LOG NAME PAGE
1/5/99 G-12427 13RETIRE-2 1 of 1
SUBJECT ADOPTION OF ORDINANCE AMENDING THE RETIREMENT ORDINANCE TO ALLOW
MANDATORY MEMBER CONTRIBUTIONS TO BE MADE ON A PRE-TAX BASIS
.RECOMMENDATION
It is recommended that the City Council adopt the attached amendment to the City Retirement
Ordinance, and that the City work with the Board of Trustees to submit the amended Retirement
Ordinance to the Internal Revenue Service for a ruling that mandatory member contributions will be
made on a pre-tax basis.
DISCUSSION
The Board of Trustees of the Retirement Fund (Board) asked its attorney and actuary to investigate the
conversion of the Retirement Ordinance to a "pick-up" plan under which the mandatory member
contributions to the Retirement Fund would be made on a pre-tax basis. After reviewing their analysis,
the Board believes that it is in the best interests of the members of the Retirement Fund to amend the
Retirement Ordinance so that it becomes a "pick-up" plan under Section 414(h) of the Internal Revenue
Code of 1986, as amended The Board also believes the City should work with the Board to submit the
Retirement Ordinance, as amended, to the internal Revenue Service for a ruling that the mandatory
member contributions to the Retirement Fund will be made on a pre-tax basis. The Board further
believes that the Retirement Ordinance should be amended to provide that City contributions shall be
reduced by any benefits paid under the Supplemental Retirement Ordinance and that, in connection
with the conversion of the Retirement Ordinance to a "pick-up" plan, an increase in member
contributions can be made without an increase in City contributions.
FISCAL INFORMATION/CERTIFICATION
The Finance Director certifies that no additional expenditures of City funds are required for this action
CBj
Submitted for City Manager's FUND ACCOUNT CENTER AMOUNT CITY SECRETARY
Office by: (to)
Charles Boswell 8511 APPROVE
O
Originating Department Head: AA
~~ tt4
~TY ~aUIO~IL
Jim Keyes 8517 (from) JAN 5
Additional Information Contact: ~~ ~~ ))
Secretar
oI than
Cit
George Nicolaides 536-6790 y
y
Ci of Port t;i//axtl- 'I~~:»~
~~opte~ ~xdi~r~oe ~o.