CO Code § 31-30.5-601 (2021)
2021 Colorado Code|Title 31 - Government - Municipal|Article 30.5 - Fire - Police - Old Hire Pension Plans|Part 6 - Retirement Benefits|§ 31-30.5-601. Police Officers' Old Hire Pension Plans - Municipalities Under One Hundred Thousand in Population

  In municipalities having a population of less than one hundred thousand and making contributions from general funds into the police officers' old hire pension fund of their respective municipalities, any old hire member of such police department who has reached the age of fifty-five years and who has served for a period of twenty years in any such department in the state of Colorado or who in the alternative has completed twenty-five years in any such department in the state of Colorado, regardless of age, is entitled to a monthly pension equal to one-half the amount of the average salary the member received as a member of said department for one year before the time of granting the member's application. Such payment shall be made regardless of income or earnings that the said retired old hire member receives from any source.    In municipalities having a population of less than one hundred thousand and not making contributions into their respective police officers' old hire pension fund, any old hire member of the police department who has reached the age of sixty years and who has served for a period of twenty years in any such department in the state of Colorado is entitled to a monthly pension equal to one-half of the amount of the average salary the member received as a member of said department for one year before the time of granting the member's application. If, thereafter, such member accepts a salaried position paying a salary of sixty dollars or more per month, the payment of the member's pension shall be suspended during the period the member holds such position.     History. Source: L. 96: Entire article added with relocations, p. 879, § 1, effective May 23.    Editor's note:   Provisions of this section were formerly numbered as §§ 31-30-314 and 31-30-322 .   ANNOTATION   Annotator's note. Since § 31-30.5-601 is similar to §§ 31-30-314 and 31-30-322 as they existed prior to the 1996 amendment that relocated parts 3 through 10 of article 30, relevant cases construing those section have been included in this annotations to this section.   Service for 20 years “in any such department”. The requirement of service for a period of 20 years “in any such department” in this section means service in a police department in a municipality making contributions to the pension fund under § 31-30-319 . Lepore v. Bd. of Trustees, 628 P.2d 625 (Colo. App. 1981).   Denial of pension has no effect on vested right in pension fund. The denial of an application for a pension under this section does not deprive the applicant of any vested right in the pension fund as he is still eligible to apply for a pension under § 31-30-314 . Lepore v. Bd. of Trustees, 628 P.2d 625 (Colo. App. 1981).   Refund of contributions to fund. A home-rule city has authority to contract with its firemen and policemen to refund the employee's individual contributions to the respective pension funds on termination of employment prior to qualification for pension benefits. Conrad v. City of Thornton, 191 Colo. 444 , 553 P.2d 822 (1976).   Applied in Benson v. City of Sheridan, 31 Colo. App. 540, 506 P.2d 401 (1972).