Source: http://www.wvlegislature.gov/WVCODE/code.cfm?chap=8&art=22
Timestamp: 2020-06-02 14:15:52
Document Index: 408292058

Matched Legal Cases: ['§8', '§8', '§8', '§8', '§8', '§8', '§8', '§8', '§8', '§8', '§8', '§8', '§33', '§8', '§33', '§8', '§8', '§8', '§33', '§8', '§8', '§8', '§21', '§8', '§8', '§8', '§4']

Moneys invested as permitted by §8-22-11 of this code are subject to the restrictions and conditions contained in this section:
(1) At no time may more than 75 percent of the portfolio of either fund be invested in securities described in §8-22-11(7) of this code;
(2) At no time may more than 20 percent of the portfolio of either fund be invested in securities described in §8-22-11(7) of this code which mature within one year from the date of issuance thereof;
(3) At no time may more than nine percent of the portfolio be invested in securities issued by a single private corporation or association; and
(4) At no time may more than 60 percent of the portfolio be invested in equity mutual funds under §8-22-11(10) of this code.
(a)(1) In order for a municipal policemen"s or firemen"s pension and relief fund to receive the allocable portion of moneys from the Municipal Pensions Security Fund created in §8-22-18b of this code, the governing body of the municipality shall levy annually and in the manner provided by law for other municipal levies and include within the maximum levy or levies permitted by law and, if necessary, in excess of any charter provision, a tax at such rate as will, after crediting: (A) The amount of the contributions received during the year from the members of the respective paid police department or paid fire department; and (B) the allocable portion of the funds from the Municipal Pensions Security Fund created in §8-22-18b of this code, provide funds equal to the amount necessary to meet the minimum standards for actuarial soundness as provided in §8-22-20 of this code. The amount shall be irrevocably contributed, accumulated, and invested as fund assets as described in §8-22-21 and §8-22-22 of this code. One twelfth of each municipality"s annual contributions shall be deposited with the municipality"s pension trust funds as fund assets on at least a monthly basis and any revenues received from any source by a municipality which are specifically collected for the purpose of allocation for deposit into the policemen"s pension and relief fund or firemen"s pension and relief fund shall be so deposited within five days of receipt by the municipality. A municipality may prepay its monthly required contributions in increments greater than one-twelfth. Heretofore surplus reserves accumulated before the effective date of this section shall be irrevocably contributed, aggregated, and invested as fund assets described in §8-22-21 and §8-22-22 of this code. Any actuarial deficiency arising under this section and §8-22-20 of this code shall not be the obligation of the State of West Virginia.
(b) The public corporations are authorized to take by gift, grant, devise, or bequest any money or real or personal property on such terms as to the investment and expenditures thereof as may be fixed by the grantor or determined by the trustees.
(c) In addition to all other sums provided for pensions in this section, it is the duty of every municipality in which any fund or funds have been or shall be established to assess and collect from each member of the paid police department or paid fire department or both each month, the sum of seven percent of the actual salary or compensation of such member; and the amount so collected shall become a regular part of the policemen"s pension and relief fund, if collected from a policeman, and of the firemen"s pension and relief fund, if collected from a fireman: Provided, That for members of the funds who are police officers or firefighters newly hired on or after January 1, 2010, the municipality shall assess and collect nine and one-half percent of the actual salary or compensation. Only those funds for which the board of trustees has collected and paid the contributions as herein provided and meeting minimum standards for actuarial soundness shall be eligible to receive moneys from the additional fire and casualty insurance premium tax as provided in §33-3-14d of this code: Provided, however, That the board of trustees for each pension and relief fund may assess and collect from each member of the paid police department or paid fire department or both each month not more than an additional two and one-half percent of the actual salary or compensation of each member, but not to exceed nine and one-half percent total contribution: Provided further, That if any board of trustees decides to assess and collect any additional amount pursuant to this subdivision above the member contribution required by this section, then that board of trustees may not reduce the additional amount until the respective pension and relief fund no longer has any actuarial deficiency: And provided further, That if any board of trustees decides to assess and collect any additional amount, any board of trustees decision and any additional amount is not the liability of the State of West Virginia. Member contributions shall be deposited in the pension and relief fund within five days of being collected.
(d)(1) For the fiscal year beginning on July 1, 2010, and subject to provisions of §8-22-18b and §33-3-14d of this code and for each fiscal year thereafter, the Municipal Pensions Oversight Board shall receive and retain the moneys allocated to the Municipal Pensions Security Fund until such time as the treasurer of the municipality applies for the allocable portion and certifies in writing to Municipal Pensions Oversight Board that:
(A) The municipality has irrevocably contributed the amount required under this section and §8-22-20 of this code to the pension and relief fund for the required period; and
(2) When the aforementioned application and certification are made, the allocable portion of moneys from the Municipal Pensions Security Fund shall be paid to the corresponding policemen"s or firemen"s pension and relief fund. Payment to a municipal pension and relief fund shall be made by electronic funds transfer.
(e) The State Auditor and the oversight board have the power, and the duty as each considers necessary, to perform or review audits on the pension and relief funds or to employ an independent consulting actuary or accountant to determine the compliance of the aforementioned certification with the requirements of this section and §8-22-20 of this code. The expense of the audit or determination shall be paid from the Municipal Pensions Security Fund pursuant to provisions of §8-22-18b of this code. If the allocable portion of the Municipal Pensions Security Fund is not paid to the pension and relief fund within 18 months, the portion is forfeited by the pension and relief fund and is allocable to other eligible municipal policemen"s and firemen"s pension and relief funds in accordance with §33-3-14d of this code.
(a) The monthly sum to be paid to each member eligible for disability received as a proximate result of service rendered in the performance of his or her duties under the provisions of §8-22-23(a) of this code is equal to 60 percent of the monthly salary being received by the member, at the time he or she is so disabled, or the sum of $500 per month, whichever is greater: Provided, That the limitation provided in subsection (b) of this section is not exceeded.
(b) Effective for any member who becomes eligible for disability benefits on or after July 1, 1981, under the provisions of §8-22-23a of this code, as a proximate result of service rendered in the performance of the member’s duties within such departments, the member’s monthly disability payment as provided in subsection (a) of this section may not, when aggregated with the monthly amount of state workers’ compensation, result in the disabled member receiving a total monthly income from the sources in excess of one hundred percent of the basic compensation which is paid to members holding the same position which the member held within the department at the time of the member’s disability. Lump sum payments of state workers’ compensation benefits are not considered for purposes of this subsection unless the lump sum payments represent commuted values of monthly state workers’ compensation benefits.
(c) Any member who has served on active duty with the armed forces of the United States as described in §8-22-27 of this code, whether prior or subsequent to becoming a member of a paid police or fire department covered by the provisions of this article, and who, on July 1, 1986, is receiving or thereafter receives a disability pension, shall receive in addition to the 60 percent or minimum $500 authorized in subsection (a) of this section, one additional percent for each year served in active military duty, up to a maximum of four additional percent.
(d) Beginning on and after April 1, 1991, the monthly sum to be paid to a member who becomes eligible for total disability incurred not in the line of duty is the monthly benefit provided in subsection (a) of this section: Provided, That for any person receiving benefits under this subsection who is self-employed or employed by another, there shall be offset against the benefits the amount of $1 for each $3 of income derived from self-employment or employment by another: Provided however, That a person receiving disability benefits must file a certified copy of his or her tax return on or before April 15 of each year to demonstrate either unemployment or income earned from self-employment or employment by another: Provided further, That there is no offset of benefit for any income derived from self-employment or employment by another when the annual total amount of the income is $18,200 or less.
(e) The $18,200 limit in subsection (d) of this section shall be automatically increased when the minimum wage, as provided in §21-5C-2 of this code, increases, by the same percentage of the increase in the minimum wage.
(a) A deferred retirement option plan (DROP) is a method to encourage retention of a worker beyond normal retirement age by permitting the worker to freeze retirement benefits at a certain time prior to ceasing work, to continue to work for a specified period, and to have retirement benefits which accrue while the employee continues working set aside in an account which the worker will then receive in a lump sum upon finally discontinuing work. The Legislature acknowledges that a DROP may be a useful and economical tool for retaining experienced and trained employees and for planning for turnovers in the workforce. Experience, however, dictates that a DROP may place a heavy financial burden on the employer and the affected retirement system, negating any positive benefit offered by the DROP if the DROP is not carefully planned to be economically favorable to the employer and revenue neutral for the affected retirement system while remaining attractive to the targeted employee.
(b) (1) The governing bodies of municipalities participating in policemen’s and firemen’s pension and relief funds pursuant to §8-22-16 through §8-22-28 of this code, are authorized to voluntarily offer DROPs. A participating municipality may design and establish a DROP to best meet the municipality’s needs so long as the DROP complies with federal law, the requirements set forth in this section and approved by the Municipal Pensions Oversight Board.
(2) Prior to approval by the Municipal Pensions Oversight Board, a municipality shall submit a proposed DROP to the board for analysis by the qualified actuary retained or employed by the board. The actuary shall examine the plan and, in light of the elements of the DROP and the actuarial projections of the impact of the DROP on the affected pension and relief fund, advise the board of the anticipated impact on the Municipal Pension and Relief Fund. The board shall seek to approve only those DROPs which, in the best judgment of the actuary, are designed to have no negative impact on the member’s pension and relief fund. The submitting municipality shall reimburse the board for actuarial costs of analyzing the plan.
(c) To be eligible to enter a DROP, the member of the policemen’s or firemen’s pension and relief fund must be in active employment and an active member of his or her pension and relief fund for at least six months beyond attaining eligibility for regular retirement as provided in §8-22-25 of this code and have received a satisfactory performance evaluation within the prior 12 months. The member may defer retirement for a period of not less than one nor more than five years but must complete the period by age 65. The member may elect to commence participation after July 1, 2011.
(3) A member may voluntarily terminate DROP participation early with 60 days’ advance notice. Deferred accumulated benefits will be paid with no interest for the DROP period and benefits payments will commence following the early termination date. Covered employment must terminate before benefit distributions may be made. Should the employer wish to terminate the employment during the participation period, the member may terminate participation with 30 days’ notice and the deferred accumulation balance shall be paid with interest according to the DROP design: Provided, That if the employee is terminated for cause during the participation period, the member may terminate participation with 30 days’ notice and the deferred accumulation balance shall be paid without interest according to the DROP design.
(5) In the event of death of a member during DROP participation, the accumulation account of the member through the member’s date of death is payable to the member’s beneficiary or beneficiaries, with interest according to DROP design.
(6) A member entering the DROP is contractually obligated to terminate employment at the end of the DROP participation period. Failure to terminate voluntarily results in termination of employment for cause, except that a member who continues to work with the consent of the employer past the DROP participation period shall have all benefits frozen during the extension period and no additional benefit accumulates. During the period of time the member continues to work beyond the end of the DROP participation period with the consent of the employer, the employer shall continue to make regular contributions to the employee’s pension and relief fund. Regular retirement benefits will commence the month following eventual employment termination or death. The member’s accumulation account balance is frozen in value following the end of the DROP participation period.
(e) Pursuant to §4-1-23 of this code, the oversight board shall annually report to the Legislature’s Joint Committee on Pensions and Retirement on DROPs submitted to the board for approval and the status of any DROP that has been approved, including any experienced impact on an affected pension and relief fund.
(a) General rule. — Upon learning of errors, the Municipal Policemen"s Pension and Relief Fund Board of Trustees or the Municipal Firemen"s Pension and Relief Fund Board of Trustees shall correct errors in the plan in a timely manner whether the individual, municipality, or board of trustees was at fault for the error with the intent of placing the affected individual, municipality, and pension board of trustees in the position each would have been in had the error not occurred. Should the municipal policemen"s or firemen"s pension and relief fund board of trustees fail to correct discovered errors, the Municipal Pensions Oversight Board shall order the pension fund board of trustees to correct such errors. In the event the Municipal Pensions Oversight Board issues an order pursuant to this section, the governing body of the city may by resolution temporarily appoint up to four additional members to the board of trustees for the purpose of implementing the provisions of the order. The additional board members shall serve until all corrective actions ordered by the Municipal Pensions Oversight Board are completed or until the municipality authorizes continued erroneous payments to retirants or beneficiaries of a retirant as authorized by subsection (d) of this section. Any order issued by the Municipal Pensions Oversight Board shall be enforceable by an action at law.
(b) Underpayments to the plan. — Any error resulting in an underpayment to the plan may be corrected by the member or retirant remitting the required employee contribution or underpayment and the municipality remitting the required municipality contribution or underpayment. The rate of interest applicable to employer error payments in a municipal policemen"s or municipal firemen"s pension and relief fund shall be the actuarial interest rate assumption as approved by the Municipal Pensions Oversight Board for completing the actuarial valuation for the plan year immediately preceding the first day of the plan year in which the employer error payment is made, compounded per annum. Any accumulating interest owed on the employee and employer contributions or underpayments resulting from an employer error shall be the responsibility of the employer. The employer may remit total payment and the employee reimburse the employer through payroll deduction over a period equivalent to the time period during which the employer error occurred. If the correction of an error involving an underpayment to the plan will result in the plan correcting an erroneous underpayment from the plan, the correction of the underpayment from the plan shall be made only after the board of trustees receives full payment of all required employee and employer contributions or underpayments, including interest.
(c) Overpayments to the plan by an employee. — When mistaken or excess employee contributions or overpayments have been made to the plan, the municipal policemen"s or municipal firemen"s pension and relief fund board of trustees shall have sole authority for determining the means of return, offset or credit to or for the benefit of the individual making the mistaken or excess employee contribution of the amounts, and may use any means authorized or permitted under the provisions of Section 401(a), et seq. of the Internal Revenue Code and guidance issued thereunder applicable to governmental plans. Alternatively, in its full and complete discretion, the municipal policemen"s or municipal firemen"s pension and relief fund board of trustees may require the municipality employing the individual to pay the individual the amounts as wages, with the board of trustees crediting the employer with a corresponding amount to offset against its future contributions to the plan. If the municipality has no future liability for municipality contributions to the plan, the board of trustees shall refund said amount directly to the municipality: Provided, That the wages paid to the individual shall not be considered compensation for any purposes of this article. Earnings or interest shall not be returned, offset, or credited under any of the means used by the board of trustees for returning employee overpayments.
(d) Overpayments from the plan. — If any error results in any member, retirant, beneficiary, entity, or other individual receiving from the plan more than he or she would have been entitled to receive had the error not occurred, the board of trustees, after learning of the error, shall correct the error in a timely manner. Unless otherwise authorized by the governing body of the city in which the fund was established as provided herein, if correction of the error occurs after annuity payments to a retirant or beneficiary have commenced, the board of trustees shall prospectively adjust the payment of the benefit to the correct amount. In addition, the member, retirant, beneficiary, entity, or other person who received the overpayment from the plan shall repay the amount of any overpayment to the municipal policemen"s pension fund or municipal firemen"s pension fund in any manner permitted by the board of trustees of that fund. The governing body of the city in which the overpaying municipal fund is established may, by majority vote, authorize continued overpayment of retirement benefits for any member, retirant, beneficiary, entity, or individual who retired prior to the effective date of this section as enacted during the regular legislative session of 2017: Provided, That where the governing body of the city authorizes continued overpayment, it shall also authorize continued payment into the fund in an amount equal to that which it would be responsible to pay under the applicable actuarial method used by the city without reduction to any retirement benefit. Interest shall not accumulate on any corrective payment made to the plan pursuant to this subsection.
(e) Underpayments from the plan. — If any error results in any member, retirant, beneficiary, entity, or other individual receiving from the plan less than he or she would have been entitled to receive had the error not occurred, the board of trustees, upon learning of the error, shall correct the error in a timely manner. If correction of the error occurs after annuity payments to a retirant or beneficiary have commenced, the board of trustees shall prospectively adjust the payment of the benefit to the correct amount. In addition, the board of trustees shall pay the amount of such underpayment to the member, retirant, beneficiary, or other individual in a lump sum. Interest shall not be paid on any corrective payment made by the municipal policemen"s pension fund or municipal firemen"s pension fund pursuant to this subsection.