§ 2-524. Contributions and funding.

(a)

Pension fund. The city employee pension fund shall be the fund in which shall be accumulated all contributions made to the fund and from which shall be paid benefits and other payments in accordance with this division.

(b)

Member contributions.

(1)

Effective the first full pay period following October 1, 2000, members, except members who have entered a DROP, will have a fixed employee contribution rate of five percent of earnings. There shall be no member contributions deducted from a member's compensation while participating in the DROP. Effective January 1, 1998, the contributions made by each member to the plan shall be designated as employer contributions pursuant to the Internal Revenue Code (I.R.C.), Section 414(h), of 1986. Such designation is contingent upon the contributions being excluded from the member's gross income for federal income tax purposes. For all other purposes of the plan, such contributions shall be considered to be member contributions. No member shall have the option of choosing to receive the contributed amounts directly instead of having them paid by the city to the fund.

(2)

The city manager shall cause contributions provided for in subsection (b)(1) to be deducted from the compensation of each member on each and every payroll, for each and every payroll, so long as each member is performing eligible service. A member's contribution provided for in this section shall be made notwithstanding that the minimum compensation provided by law for any members shall be changed thereby. Each member shall be deemed to consent and agree to the deduction made and provided for in this section and payment of his/her compensation less such deduction shall be full and complete discharge of all claims and demands whatsoever for the service rendered by the member during the period covered by such payment, except as to the benefits provided by this plan. The city manager shall cause the amount to be deducted from the compensation of each member for each and every payroll as authorized by this division and when deducted shall be paid into the fund of the plan and shall be credited to the individual member from whose compensation the deduction was made.

(c)

City contributions. In addition to the contributions provided for herein to be paid by members of the plan, and any gifts, devises and bequests to the plan accepted by the city, the city commission is hereby authorized to deposit in the fund annually a sum which, together with the contributions from members and other sources of income to the fund, shall be sufficient to fund the normal cost of the plan and to amortize the unfunded liability, if any, of the plan over a period not longer than 40 years; provided, however, disability benefits under this division shall be funded by the city (not member contributions) through annual appropriations made to the fund, the amount of which shall be sufficient to fund the disability benefit on a sound basis. If the amortization schedule for the unfunded liability is to be based on a contribution derived in whole or in part from a percentage of the payroll of the plan membership, the assumption as to payroll growth shall not exceed the average payroll growth for the three years prior to the development of the amortization schedule, unless a different assumption is warranted by other circumstances. No city contributions shall be required or attributable to members during their participation in the DROP, or during any period subsequent to the conclusion of the DROP period when the member is not earning credited service. For the purpose of securing necessary funds, the city commission is hereby authorized to levy such taxes as may be necessary to fulfill these requirements.

(Code 1960, § 20-40.4; Ord. No. 3140, § 4, 6-24-85; Ord. No. 970592, § 5, 11-24-97; Ord. No. 000051, §§ 6—8, 9-11-00; Ord. No. 120218, § 3, 9-10-12; Ord. No. 130122, § 4, 9-19-13; Ord. No. 140657 , § 2, 2-19-15)