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HomeMy WebLinkAboutOrdinance 11238ORDINANCE 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, AND 11126, 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 REMARRIAGE BY WIDOWS AND WIDOWERS, CLARIFYING PROJECTED RETIREMENT DATE APPLICATION TO VESTED TERMINATION PENSIONS, CLARIFYING THE METHODOLOGY FOR HANDLING QUALIFIED DOMESTIC RELATIONS ORDERS, MAKING THIS ORDINANCE CUMULATIVE, PROVIDING FOR A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE, AND PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE. 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, and 11126, be and the same is hereby amended as follows. SECTION I. That Chapter 2, Article VI, Dwision 1, Section 2-210, Subsection E "General Provisions", of the Code of the City of Fort Worth (1986), as amended, be and ~s hereby further amended by substituting the following language m lieu thereof, to wit: "E. General Provisions. If a deceased member leaves no widow, widower, children or dependent parents eligible to receive a benefit hereunder, his total contributions, plus Regular Interest (at the Regular Interest rate in effect on the date of any such payment) less any amount previously paid to him from the Fund, shall be paid to his estate. Payments to a child shall be made whether or not a widow or widower survives and shall continue after the death of a widow or widower, but shall cease upon the earliest of such child's death, marriage or attainment of age eighteen (18) Payments to a parent shall cease upon such parent's death. Payments to a widow or widower shall continue after remarriage, but shall cease upon the death of the widow or widower Payments to a widow or widower forfeited due to remarriage under prior provisions of this section will be reinstated upon written request by the widow or widower, but no retroactive payments can be made. After payments cease, any excess of the member's total contributions, plus Regular Interest at date of death over disability and/or death benefits paid shall be paid to his estate. Except as provided m Sec. 2-210.D., death benefit coverage during service breaks m excess of ninety (90) consecutive calendar days shall be limited to members who are absent due to service-connected injury incurred while in the line of duty Benefits hereunder shall be payable on the first day of each month commencing with the month following the one in which the member's death occurs. The Board shall determine aii questions of dependency, and their determination shall be final and conclusive on all parties. All unmarried, legitimate and legally adopted children under the age of eighteen (18) years, in the absence of determination to the contrary, shall be considered dependent." SECTION II. That Chapter 2, Article VI, Division 1, Section 2-211 ''Termination Benefits and Vesting", Subsection B, of the Code of the City of Fort Worth (1986), as amended, be and is hereby further amended, by substituting the following language m lieu thereof, to wrt: "B A member who resigns or is terminated after vesting shall be entitled to receive one hundred percent (100%) of the amount of pension earned to date of termination, payable in full on the date when the member would have been eligible for retirement under Sec. 2-206 if the member had remained employed by the City, or payable m a reduced amount commencing at age fifty (50) However, no member shall be eligible to -2- commence a pension prior to age fifty (50) unless the member's age and years of service total at least sixty-five (65) when the member resigns or ~s terminated. The amount of reduction for early commencement of pension shall be five-twelfths percent (5/12%) for each month by which commencement of the pension antedates the date when the member would have been eligible to receive the full pension under this subsection." SECTION III. That Chapter 2, Article VI, Division 1, Section 2-216 "Exemption of Benefits from Judicial Process", Subsection C, of the Code of the City of Fort Worth (1986), as amended, be and is hereby further amended, by subst~tutmg the following language in lieu thereof, to wit: "C. The court order must be a `Qualified Domestic Relations Order' within the meaning of Section 414(p) of the Code and must also satisfy the provisions of this section. The maximum monthly pension benefit that can be paid to a former spouse is fifty percent (50°Jo) of the member's monthly pension benefit. The order must state a specific amount payable monthly or a percentage of the member's monthly pension benefit to be divided between the member and the former spouse. Except as otherwise provided below with respect to the repayment of the member's contributions, no single .sum payment shall be made to a former spouse. Upon the member's death, no further monthly pension benefit shall be paid to the former spouse. If, however, pnor to the member's death, the member and former spouse had not yet received pennon benefits from the Fund m excess of the member's total contributions to the Fund (plus Regular Interest), the member's remaining contributions (plus Regular Interest) shall be divided between the member and former spouse according to (i) the ratio of the monthly pension benefit payable to the former spouse divided by the monthly pension benefit payable to the member but for the divorce, or (ii) the percentage used to calculate the monthly pension benefit payable to the member and the former spouse. The former spouse shall receive his or her portion of the remaining contributions (plus Regular Interest) ~n a single sum distribution. ~ If such deceased member died with no dependent child, dependent parent, or surviving spouse to whom the member had been married for at least one year prior -3- to death, the member's portion of the remaining contributions (plus Regular Interest) shall be paid in a single sum to the member's estate. If the deceased member died with a dependent child (or children), dependent parent (or parents), or a surviving spouse to whom the member had been married for at least one year prior to death, such person(s) shall be entitled to a monthly benefit under the terms of the Ordinance, but adjusted as provided below Upon a single sum payment to the former spouse, such monthly pension benefit shall be reduced according to the following methodology (1) Create a fraction, the numerator of which is the single sum amount paid to the former spouse and the denominator of which is the sum of the member's contributions (plus Regular Interest) and the City's contributions on behalf of the member; (2) Multiply that fraction by the monthly pension benefit which would otherwise be payable to the dependent child, parent or surviving spouse; and (3) The difference between the result of the second step and the monthly pension benefit which would otherwise be payable to the dependent child, dependent parent or surviving spouse ~s the monthly pension benefit which should be paid to the dependent child, dependent parent or survrvmg spouse. Since any monthly pension benefit payable to a former spouse is derived from the member's monthly pension, a former spouse's monthly pension benefit shall not commence until the member's monthly pension benefit commences. If a member with respect to whom a former spouse has obtained a domestic relations order purporting to be a qualified domestic relations order temm~ates employment with the City and receives a return of contributions (plus Regular Interest) rather than a monthly pension benefit, the former spouse shall not receive a monthly pension benefit, but shall instead receive a percentage (or fixed dollar amount) of the refunded contributions (plus Regular Interest) No court order shall be honored if rt. (1) Provides for any form of benefit or option not otherwise provided by the Ordinance, (2) Requires the Fund to provide increased benefits determined on the basis of actuarial value, or -4- .. (3) Requires the payment of benefits to a former spouse that are required to be paid to another former spouse." SECTION IV CONTROLLING POWER OF ORDINANCE The provisions of this ordinance shall be cumulative of and in addition to all other ordinances of the City of Fort Worth relating to pennons, which ordinances are hereby preserved and continued m force and effect; provided, however., that, in the event of any conflict, the provisions of this ordinance shall control SECTION V VALIDITY OF ORDINANCE If any provision, section, part, subsection, sentence, clause, phrase or paragraph of this Ordinance be declared mvahd 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 mvahd, rt would not have adopted such invalid part. SECTION VI PREREQUISITES TO ORDINANCE The City Council finds that all acts, conditions and things required by prov~nons of the Constitution of Texas and Charter and Ordinances of the City of Fort Worth precedent to and m the adoption of this Ordinance have been done, have happened and have been performed in proper and lawful time. -5- 'b a +`r SECTION VII. EFFECTIVE DATE This Ordinance shall be m full force and effect from and after the date of its adoption and it is so ordained. APPROVED AS TO FORM AND LEGALITY .~ ~~~'~ ~, City Attorney Date. /- /c3 - f ,3 ADOPTED• ,/ ~ ~ ~ ` ~~, EFFECTIVE. ~ ' ~9'' ~~ c:\ggs~boa4S5~5S0004nsert.001 -6- City of Fort Worth, Texas Mayor and Council Communication DATE 01/19/93 REFERENCE NUMBER G-1 0007 LO NAME 130RDINA PA E 1 of 1 SUBJECT ADOPTION OF ORDINANCE AMENDING THE CITY RETIREMENT ORDINANCE RECOMMENDATION: It is recommended that the City Council adopt the attached Ordinance amending the City Retirement Ordinance, which provides for the reinstatement of .pension benefits for widows and widowers whose benefits were previously terminated under prior provisions of the Retirement Ordinance due to their remarriage, clarifies that pension benefits for terminated employees commence based upon their projected retirement dates, and clarifies the methodology to be applied to qualified domestic relations orders. DISCUSSION: On March 24, 1988, the Retirement Ordinance was amended prospectively to allow widows and widowers to continue to receive pension benefits upon their remarriage. This amendment did not, however, apply to widows and widowers whose pension benefits had previously been terminated prior to March 24,1988. The Board of Trustees believes that such monthly pension benefits should be reinstated for these individuals, but that such benefits should not be made retroactive, for any prior period during which payments were not made. Under a prior Retirement Ordinance revision, there was some ambiguity in the*language regarding the time that pension benefits commence for employees who had resigned or were terminated prior to their normal retirement date. The Board of Trustees believes th-at this language should be clarified to reflect the use of an individual's projected retirement date. The July 14, 1992 revision of the Retirement Ordinance. contained brief provisions relating to qualified domestic relations orders in divorce cases that are received by the Retirement Office. The Board of Trustees believes that greater detail regarding the methodology to be applied when handling qualified domestic relations orders should be added to the Retirement Ordinance so that benefits are not enlarged beyond the scope of the Ordinance. The Board of Trustees has recommended approval of the attached amendment to the Retirement Ordinance. CB:b Submitted for City Manager's FUND ACCOUNT CENTER AMOUNT CITY SECRETARY Office by to APPRdVED Charles Boswell 8500 CITE ~~NCIL Originating Department Head Charles Boswell 8500 from JAN 1.9 ~~~'3 ~'~ } Owl // ~~~ ~Q ~ n~ ;~? . ~--~" ~~`~~ For Additional Information City Sc~crrtr~zq of tttie Contact City of Fox; ~Ftartl~, `t's~xar George Nicolaides 6620 - ~~~ Printed on recycled paper