GA Code § 47-5-40 (2021)
2021 Georgia Code|Title 47 - Retirement and Pensions|Chapter 5 - Georgia Municipal Employees Benefit System|Article 3 - Retirement Plans|§ 47-5-40. Power of Employers to Establish Retirement Plans; Benefits Under Such Plans; Power to Implement Such Plans by Contract; Financing of Such Plans

    Each employer is empowered to establish a plan or plans for the provision of retirement or employee benefits for its employees. Such plans shall be enacted by ordinance or resolution of the governing body of a municipal corporation or by a resolution of the governing body of other employers. The ordinance or resolution shall set forth the employees to be covered, the benefits to be provided, and the conditions of the plan. Benefits under the plan may include retirement and employee benefits. A plan for employee benefits may provide for the method of funding such benefits through the use of insurance, self-funding, or otherwise.   Any contract between the board of trustees and a member employer which provides a defined benefit plan shall contain a provision that such defined benefits are to be provided, to the extent fixed in such plan, by the employer and that the board of trustees does not guarantee the defined amount.     Each employer is further empowered to implement such plan or plans by contract with the board of trustees in accordance with the rules and regulations promulgated by the board of trustees. The contract with the board of trustees shall be executed pursuant to the ordinance or resolution which enacted the plan.   Each employer is authorized to make reasonable classifications of employees in its plan and to provide for integration of its plan with social security benefits and with other retirement or pension plans under which certain classes of employees may be entitled to benefits.   Each employer is authorized to appropriate funds to provide the benefits under such plan and to pay its respective portion of the administrative costs of the board of trustees in administering the system. Except with respect to employee contributions to purchase additional service credit, an employee's contribution under a defined benefit plan shall not exceed 50 percent of the value of such employee's benefit payable from the plan upon commencement of benefits. The valuation of benefits under a defined benefit plan shall be made in accordance with the actuarial assumptions used to determine employer contributions in effect at the time of the determination.   Contributions paid by a municipal corporation shall be paid from municipal funds which are on hand or which will be collected in the year the contribution is made and shall not be deemed to create a debt of the municipal corporation.     (Code 1981, §47-5-40, enacted by Ga. L. 1984, p. 1041, § 11; Ga. L. 1995, p. 1061, § 1; Ga. L. 2016, p. 269, § 1/SB 336.)    The 2016 amendment,  effective July 1, 2016, in the second sentence of paragraph (a)(1), inserted "or resolution"; and, in subsection (d), substituted the present second sentence for the former second sentence, which read: "In no event shall an employee's contribution exceed 50 percent of the value of such employee's benefit payable from the plan at the earlier of termination of employment or commencement of benefits", and inserted "under a defined benefit plan" in the last sentence.   Cross references.   - Creditable service not allowed for military service from which discharge was other than honorable, § 47-1-11.   JUDICIAL DECISIONS   Classifications.    - City pension plan classifying city employees and the employees' surviving spouses on the basis of retirement status was reasonable. Strickland v. City of Albany, 270 Ga. 31, 504 S.E.2d 666 (1998).    Cited in  Bituminous Cas. Corp. v. R.D.C., Inc., 334 F. Supp. 1163 (N.D. Ga. 1971).