PRINTER'S NO. 4210
No. 2788 Session of 2002
INTRODUCED BY JADLOWIEC, BEBKO-JONES, ALLEN, CAPPELLI, TIGUE,
HENNESSEY, SHANER, PRESTON, HARHAI, BELFANTI, TRELLO,
YOUNGBLOOD, CREIGHTON, JAMES AND HORSEY, JULY 1, 2002
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON URBAN AFFAIRS, JULY 1, 2002
AN ACT
1 Amending the act of June 23, 1931 (P.L.932, No.317), entitled
2 "An act relating to cities of the third class; and amending,
3 revising, and consolidating the law relating thereto,"
4 further providing for retirement allowances; and providing
5 for increase of allowances after retirement and for service
6 increments.
7 The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
8 hereby enacts as follows:
9 Section 1. Section 4343 of the act of June 23, 1931
10 (P.L.932, No.317), known as The Third Class City Code, reenacted
11 and amended June 28, 1951 (P.L.662, No.164) and amended October
12 4, 1978 (P.L.950, No.188), is amended to read:
13 Section 4343. Retirement Allowance; Proof of Disability;
14 Joint and Single Coverage Members Defined.--During the lifetime
15 of any person in the employment of any city creating such
16 pension fund and pension board as hereinbefore provided, he or
17 she shall be entitled to receive as a pension annually, from the
18 fund set aside for the purpose, fifty per centum of the amount
19 which would constitute the average annual salary or wages which
1 he or she received during the last or any five years of his or
2 her employment by the said city, whichever is the higher, said
3 pension to be paid in semi-monthly payments. Should any persons
4 so employed, after twenty years of service, be dismissed,
5 voluntarily retired, or be in any manner deprived of his or her
6 position or employment, before attaining the age of sixty years,
7 upon continuing a monthly payment to the fund equal to the last
8 amount due and paid monthly while in active service, said person
9 shall be entitled to the pension above-mentioned,
10 notwithstanding he or she has not attained the age of sixty
11 years at the time of his or her separation from the service of
12 such city, but said pension shall not commence until he or she
13 has attained the age of sixty years. Should any employe,
14 however, become totally and permanently disabled, after ten
15 years of service and before attaining the age of sixty years, he
16 or she shall be entitled to the said pension. Proof of total and
17 permanent disability shall consist of the sworn statement of
18 three practicing physicians, designated by the board, that the
19 employe is in a permanent condition of health which would
20 permanently disable him or her from performing the duties of his
21 or her position or office.
22 For the purpose of this article on pensions, the following
23 words shall have the meaning herein assigned to them:
24 "Joint Coverage Member" of the retirement system shall mean a
25 city employe who shall have become a member of the retirement
26 system subsequent to the last date permitted by such city for
27 statement or preference concerning social security coverage, or
28 who, having become a member on or before such date, shall have
29 filed with the Retirement Board a written statement that he or
30 she elects social security coverage under an agreement with the
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1 Federal Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare entered into
2 by the Commonwealth.
3 "Single Coverage Member" of the retirement system shall mean
4 a city employe who shall have become a member of the retirement
5 system on or before the last date permitted by such city for
6 statement of preference concerning social security coverage and
7 who either shall have filed with the Retirement Board a written
8 statement that he or she does not elect social security coverage
9 under any agreement with the Federal Secretary of Health,
10 Education and Welfare entered into by the Commonwealth, or shall
11 not have filed with the Retirement Board any written statement.
12 Where a city has entered into an agreement with the
13 Commonwealth to place certain employes under the Federal Social
14 Security Act, the pension to be paid joint coverage members
15 according to the provisions of this section payable after the
16 age and upon that portion of annual compensation on which social
17 security benefits are payable, shall be reduced by an amount
18 equal to forty (40) per centum of the primary insurance amount
19 of social security paid or payable to the member. Such reduction
20 shall be subject to the following provisions:
21 (1) Upon attainment of the age at which social security
22 benefits are payable by a beneficiary receiving a pension or
23 upon retirement of a contributor after attaining that age, his
24 eligibility to the old age insurance benefit and the primary
25 insurance amount of social security upon which the reduction in
26 the pension shall be based, shall be computed by the board in
27 the manner specified in the Federal Social Security Act, except
28 that in determining such eligibility and such amount only wages
29 or compensation for services performed in the employ of the city
30 shall be included.
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1 (2) The reduction shall not apply to a pension for total and
2 permanent disability payable under this section.
3 (3) Whenever the amount of the reduction from the pension
4 shall have been once determined, it shall remain fixed for the
5 duration of the pension, except that any decrease in the primary
6 insurance amount under the Social Security Act shall result in a
7 corresponding decrease in the amount of the reduction from the
8 pension.
9 (4) The total sum, including social security benefits, to be
10 received upon retirement by an employe who is a member of the
11 system at the time of the agreement shall not be less than the
12 allowance that would be paid by the retirement system in the
13 absence of the agreement.
14 If council elects, by ordinance, to make such payments, the
15 surviving spouse of an employe who retired on pension [or is
16 killed in the service on or after January 1, 1960, shall, during
17 his lifetime or so long as he does not remarry], or an employe
18 who was a contributor and was now working for such city
19 immediately prior to his or her death and had met the minimum
20 requirements for eligibility for retirement, shall, during his
21 or her lifetime, be entitled to receive a pension calculated at
22 the rate of [fifty] one hundred per centum of the pension the
23 member was receiving or would have been entitled to had he been
24 retired at the time of his death.
25 Section 2. The act is amended by adding sections to read:
26 Section 4343.3. Increase of Allowances After Retirement.--
27 Any city may, at any time, at its discretion, upon the
28 recommendation of the persons having custody and management of
29 the pension fund, increase the allowances of persons receiving
30 allowances of any kind from the fund by reason of and after the
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1 termination of the services of the members of the fund. Such
2 increases shall be in conformity with a uniform scale, which may
3 be based on the change in the cost of living, but the total of
4 any such allowances shall not at any time exceed fifty per
5 centum of the current salary being paid active members of the
6 highest pay grade.
7 Section 4343.4. Service Increments.--Upon election of
8 council, service increments shall be allowable and shall be as
9 follows:
10 (1) Service increment shall be the sum obtained by computing
11 the number of whole years after having served the minimum
12 required by this act during which a contributor has been
13 employed by such city and paid out of the city treasury, and
14 multiplying the said number of years so computed by an amount
15 equal to two and one-half per centum of the retirement allowance
16 which has become payable to such contributor in accordance with
17 the provisions of this act. In computing the service increment,
18 no employment after the contributor has reached the age of
19 sixty-five years shall be included, and no service increment
20 shall be paid in excess of one hundred dollars per month.
21 (2) Each contributor, from and after the effective date of
22 this section, shall pay into the pension fund a monthly sum in
23 addition to his or her retirement contribution, which shall be
24 equal to one-half of one per centum of his or her salary;
25 Provided, That such payment shall not exceed the sum of one
26 dollar per month: And provided, That such service increment
27 contribution shall not be paid after a contributor has reached
28 the age of sixty-five years.
29 (3) A person who is a contributor on the effective date of
30 this section who has already reached the age of sixty-five years
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1 shall have his or her service increment computed on the years of
2 employment prior to the date of reaching his or her sixty-fifth
3 birthday.
4 (4) Service increment contributions shall be paid at the
5 same time and in the same manner as retirement contributions and
6 may be withdrawn in full, without interest, by a person who
7 leaves the employment of such city, subject to the same
8 conditions by which retirement contributions may be withdrawn,
9 or by a person who retires before becoming entitled to any
10 service increment.
11 (5) Any member of the fund who is contributor to the fund
12 and any person employed by the city after the effective date of
13 this section, if required to become a contributor to the fund,
14 shall be subject to the provisions of this section.
15 Section 3. This act shall take effect in 60 days.
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