2023 Indiana Code › Title 36. Local Government › Article 8. Public Safety › Chapter 10. Sheriff's Department; Merit Board; Pensions › 36-8-10-12. Pension Trust

Sec. 12. (a) The department and a trustee may establish and operate an actuarially sound pension trust as a retirement plan for the exclusive benefit of the employee beneficiaries. However, a department and a trustee may not establish or modify a retirement plan after June 30, 1989, without the approval of the county fiscal body which shall not reduce or diminish any benefits of the employee beneficiaries set forth in any retirement plan that was in effect on January 1, 1989.
(b) The normal retirement age may be earlier but not later than the age of seventy (70). However, the sheriff may retire an employee who is otherwise eligible for retirement if the board finds that the employee is not physically or mentally capable of performing the employee's duties.
(c) Joint contributions shall be made to the trust fund:
(1) either by:
(A) the department through a general appropriation provided to the department;
(B) a line item appropriation directly to the trust fund; or
(C) both; and
(2) by an employee beneficiary through authorized monthly deductions from the employee beneficiary's salary or wages. However, the employer may pay all or a part of the contribution for the employee beneficiary.
Contributions through an appropriation are not required for plans established or modifications adopted after June 30, 1989, unless the establishment or modification is approved by the county fiscal body.
(d) For a county not having a consolidated city, the monthly deductions from an employee beneficiary's wages for the trust fund may not exceed six percent (6%) of the employee beneficiary's average monthly wages. For a county having a consolidated city, the monthly deductions from an employee beneficiary's wages for the trust fund may not exceed seven percent (7%) of the employee beneficiary's average monthly wages.
(e) The minimum annual contribution by the department must be sufficient, as determined by the pension engineers, to prevent deterioration in the actuarial status of the trust fund during that year. If the department fails to make minimum contributions for three (3) successive years, the pension trust terminates and the trust fund shall be liquidated.
(f) If during liquidation all expenses of the pension trust are paid, adequate provision must be made for continuing pension payments to retired persons. Each employee beneficiary is entitled to receive the net amount paid into the trust fund from the employee beneficiary's wages, and any remaining sum shall be equitably divided among employee beneficiaries in proportion to the net amount paid from their wages into the trust fund.
(g) If a person ceases to be an employee beneficiary because of death, disability, unemployment, retirement, or other reason, the person, the person's beneficiary, or the person's estate is entitled to receive at least the net amount paid into the trust fund from the person's wages, either in a lump sum or monthly installments not less than the person's pension amount.
(h) If an employee beneficiary is retired for old age, the employee beneficiary is entitled to receive a monthly income in the proper amount of the employee beneficiary's pension during the employee beneficiary's lifetime.
(i) To be entitled to the full amount of the employee beneficiary's pension classification, an employee beneficiary must have contributed at least twenty (20) years of service to the department before retirement. Otherwise, the employee beneficiary is entitled to receive a pension proportional to the length of the employee beneficiary's service.
(j) This subsection does not apply to a county that adopts an ordinance under section 12.1 of this chapter. For an employee beneficiary who retires before January 1, 1985, a monthly pension may not exceed by more than twenty dollars ($20) one-half (1/2) the amount of the average monthly wage received during the highest paid five (5) years before retirement. However, in counties where the fiscal body approves the increases, the maximum monthly pension for an employee beneficiary who retires after December 31, 1984, may be increased by no more or no less than two percent (2%) of that average monthly wage for each year of service over twenty (20) years to a maximum of seventy-four percent (74%) of that average monthly wage plus twenty dollars ($20). For the purposes of determining the amount of an increase in the maximum monthly pension approved by the fiscal body for an employee beneficiary who retires after December 31, 1984, the fiscal body may determine that the employee beneficiary's years of service include the years of service with the sheriff's department that occurred before the effective date of the pension trust. For an employee beneficiary who retires after June 30, 1996, the average monthly wage used to determine the employee beneficiary's pension benefits may not exceed the monthly minimum salary that a full-time prosecuting attorney was entitled to be paid by the state at the time the employee beneficiary retires.
(k) The trust fund may not be commingled with other funds, except as provided in this chapter, and may be invested only in accordance with statutes for investment of trust funds, including other investments that are specifically designated in the trust agreement.
(l) The trustee receives and holds as trustee all money paid to it as trustee by the department, the employee beneficiaries, or by other persons for the uses stated in the trust agreement.
(m) The trustee shall engage pension engineers to supervise and assist in the technical operation of the pension trust in order that there is no deterioration in the actuarial status of the plan.
(n) Within ninety (90) days after the close of each fiscal year, the trustee, with the aid of the pension engineers, shall prepare and file an annual report with the department. The report must include the following:
(1) Schedule 1. Receipts and disbursements.
(2) Schedule 2. Assets of the pension trust listing investments by book value and current market value as of the end of the fiscal year.
(3) Schedule 3. List of terminations, showing the cause and amount of refund.
(4) Schedule 4. The application of actuarially computed "reserve factors" to the payroll data properly classified for the purpose of computing the reserve liability of the trust fund as of the end of the fiscal year.
(5) Schedule 5. The application of actuarially computed "current liability factors" to the payroll data properly classified for the purpose of computing the liability of the trust fund as of the end of the fiscal year.
(o) No part of the corpus or income of the trust fund may be used or diverted to any purpose other than the exclusive benefit of the members and the beneficiaries of the members.
[Pre-Local Government Recodification Citations: subsection (a) formerly 17-3-14-11 part; subsections (b), (c), (d), (e), (f), (g), (h), (i), (j), (k), (l), (m), (n) formerly 17-3-14-10 part.]
As added by Acts 1981, P.L.309, SEC.61. Amended by P.L.203-1984, SEC.1; P.L.38-1986, SEC.7; P.L.313-1989, SEC.4; P.L.312-1989, SEC.5; P.L.267-1993, SEC.1; P.L.152-1994, SEC.2; P.L.230-1996, SEC.3; P.L.233-1997, SEC.1; P.L.40-1997, SEC.10; P.L.234-1997, SEC.1; P.L.253-1997(ss), SEC.32; P.L.173-2007, SEC.46.