Opinion ID: 3151257
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: City’s Power to Enact Ordinance

Text: Ga. Const. of 1983, Art. IX, Sec. II, Par. II provides “home rule” for municipalities, that is: The General Assembly may provide by law for the self-government of municipalities and to that end is expressly given the authority to delegate its power so that matters pertaining to municipalities may be dealt with without the necessity of action by the General Assembly. The State Constitution also explicitly confers upon municipalities authority in regard to maintaining and modifying retirement or pension systems, e.g., a municipality has: [t]he power to maintain and modify heretofore existing retirement or pension systems, including such systems heretofore created by general laws of local application by population classification, and to continue in effect or modify other benefits heretofore provided as a part of or in addition to such retirement or pension systems and the power to create and maintain retirement or pension systems for any elected or appointed public officers and employees whose compensation is paid in whole or in part from county or municipal funds and for the beneficiaries of such officers and employees. 7 Ga. Const. of 1983, Art. IX, Sec. II, Par. III (a) (14). In addition, the General Assembly has expressly authorized municipalities to establish and finance retirement systems and to provide retirement and pension benefits. OCGA § 36-34-2 (4) confers upon the governing body of any municipal corporation, [t]he power to establish merit systems, retirement systems, and insurance plans for all municipal employees and to establish insurance plans for school employees of independent municipal systems and to provide the method or methods of financing such systems and plans; . . . (Emphasis added.) Furthermore, OCGA § 36-35-4 (a), in relevant part, authorizes a municipal corporation’s governing authority to provide retirement and pension benefits: The governing authority of each municipal corporation is authorized to . . . provide . . . retirement, and pension benefits, . . .for its employees, their dependents, and their survivors . . . . And, subsection (d) of OCGA § 36-35-4 defines the terms “retirement” and “pension” as used in subsection (a) of the statute, As used in subsection (a) of this Code section, the words “retirement” and “pension” shall mean 8 termination from municipal service with the right to receive a benefit based upon all or part of such municipal service in accordance with the terms of the ordinance or contract pursuant to which the municipality provides for payment of such benefits. (Emphasis added.) Thus, the cited legislation explicitly contemplates that a municipal corporation’s provision of retirement or pension benefits to its employees be read in conjunction with the terms of local law and ordinances, that is, that such provision of benefits be supplemented by local law such as that contained in the Code of the City of Atlanta (“City Code”) and the Charter of the City of Atlanta (“City Charter”). Duty Free Air & Ship Supply Co./Franklin Wilson Airport Concession, Inc. v. City of Atlanta, 282 Ga. 173, 174 (646 SE2d 48) (2007).