Opinion ID: 2332327
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 8

Heading: The City Must Pay the Entire Amount Certified

Text: The City contends that it is not required to pay the full amounts certified by the PRS and the FRS because its lesser payments were adequate as a matter of law in that they provide enough money to cover the benefits owed. The City states that section 86.344 does not mandate that it pay the entire amount certified by the PRS because section 86.337 provides that, notwithstanding the certified amount, the City's payment is sufficient if, when combined with the retirement system's assets, there is enough money to provide benefits payable during the current year. Similarly, the City argues that section 87.355 and section 4.18.320, City Code do not require that it pay the entire amount certified for the FRS because sections 87.340 and section 4.18.305, City Code indicate that the payment is sufficient if, when combined with the retirement systems assets, there is enough money to provide benefits payable during the current year. The primary rule of statutory construction is to determine the legislature's intent by considering the plain and ordinary meaning of the words used in the statute and by giving each word, clause, sentence, and section of the statute meaning. State ex rel. Womack v. Rolf, 173 S.W.3d 634, 638 (Mo. banc 2005). In ascertaining the meaning of a city ordinance, the same statutory construction rules are applied. State ex rel. Killingsworth v. George, 168 S.W.3d 621, 623 (Mo.App. 2005). The legislature's intent is also determined by considering the whole act and its purposes and by seeking to avoid unjust or absurd results. Id. In determining the meaning of a particular statute, this Court may look to the established policy of the legislature as disclosed by a general course of legislation. Id. All consistent statutes relating to the same subject are construed together as though constituting one act, and [t]he rule of construction in such instances proceeds upon the supposition that the statutes in question are intended to be read consistently and harmoniously in their several parts and provisions. State ex rel. Rothermich v. Gallagher, 816 S.W.2d 194, 200 (Mo. banc 1991). Section 86.344 (applying to the PRS) provides: On or before the first day of March of each year the board of trustees shall certify to the board of estimate and apportionment of the city the amounts which will become due and payable during the year next following for expenses pursuant to subsection 2 of section 86.343 and the cost of benefits as determined pursuant to section 86.337. The amounts so certified shall be appropriated by the city and transferred to the retirement system in equal payments in the first six months of the ensuing year. Section 86.337 (applying to the PRS) provides: The total amount payable to the retirement system for each fiscal year shall be not less than the normal contribution rate of the total compensation earnable by all members during the year; provided, however, that the aggregate payment by the said cities shall be sufficient when combined with the assets of the retirement system to provide the pensions and other benefits payable during the then current year. [10] Section 87.355 [11] (applying to the FRS) provides: On or before the first of March of each year the board of trustees shall certify to the proper city authorities the amount which will become due and payable during the year next following to the general reserve fund. The amount so certified shall be included by the city authorities in their annual budget estimate. The amount so certified shall be appropriated by the city and transferred to the retirement system for the ensuing year. Section 87.340 [12] (applying to the FRS) provides: The total amount payable in each year to the general reserve fund shall be not less than the sum of the rates percent known as the normal contribution rate and the accrued liability contribution rate of the total compensation earnable by all members during the year, and the aggregate payment by the city shall be sufficient when combined with the amount in the fund to provide the retirement allowances and other benefits payable out of the fund during the then current year. The city may contribute at any time from bond issue or other available funds an amount equal to the unfunded accrued liability as certified by the actuary in which event no further accrued liability contribution will be required or may contribute any lesser amount which will be used to proportionately reduce future accrued liability contributions. The City argues that the amounts certified need not be paid because the use of the word shall in these provisions is not intended to make the contribution amount mandatory. This Court disagrees. Generally the use of the word shall connotes a mandatory duty. Bauer v. Transitional Sch. Dist. of the City of St. Louis, 111 S.W.3d 405, 408 (Mo. banc 2003). Whether the use of the word shall in a statute is mandatory or directory is primarily a function of context and legislative intent. Id. The statutes and ordinances relating to the PRS and the FRS, when taken as a whole, support the view that actuarial soundness is the principle at the heart of the PRS and the FRS funding provisions. Actuarial soundness requires the City to make its annual contribution of the actuarially-determined amounts certified by the PRS and the FRS boards of trustees. Additionally, the City's proposed construction of the statutes fails to account for the principle that one part of a statute or ordinance should not be read in isolation, but rather in the context of the whole act, and should be read to harmonize all provisions and give effect to every word, sentence, and clause of the legislation, if reasonably possible. This Court construes the opening clauses in sections 86.337 and 87.340 to set forth the minimum amount payable to the PRS and the FRS. The second clausesstating that the City's payments are sufficient if they provide the payable benefits when combined with the monies in the retirement fundsare intended to modify the first part of the sentence. The second clauses establish that the City is required to contribute more than the minimum amount ordinarily payable whenever the amounts certified, when combined with the assets in the systems' reserves, are insufficient to cover the pension and other benefits payable during the current year. The City must pay the entire amount certified by the PRS and the FRS.