§ 8-243.2 — Alternative annuity for city officers

Illinois § 8-243.2

• Jurisdiction: Illinois
• Topic: GOVERNMENT
• Ch. 40: PENSIONS
• Act 40 ILCS 5/: Illinois Pension Code.
• Art.: Article 8 - Municipal Employees', Officers', And Officials' Annuity And Benefit Fund--Cities Over 500,000 Inhabitants

Text

(a) For the purposes of this Section and Sections 8-243.1 and 8-243.3, "city officer" means the city clerk, the city treasurer, or an alderperson of the city elected by vote of the people, while serving in that capacity or as provided in subsection (f), who has elected to participate in the Fund. (b) Any elected city officer, while serving in that capacity or as provided in subsection (f), may elect to establish alternative credits for an alternative annuity by electing in writing to make additional optional contributions in accordance with this Section and the procedures established by the board. Such elected city officer may discontinue making the additional optional contributions by notifying the Fund in writing in accordance with this Section and procedures established by the board. Additional optional contributions for the alternative annuity shall be as follows: (1) For service after the option is elected, an additional contribution of 3% of salary shall be contributed to the Fund on the same basis and under the same conditions as contributions required under Sections 8-174 and 8-182. (2) For service before the option is elected, an additional contribution of 3% of the salary for the applicable period of service, plus interest at the effective rate from the date of service to the date of payment. All payments for past service must be paid in full before credit is given. No additional optional contributions may be made for any period of service for which credit has been previously forfeited by acceptance of a refund, unless the refund is repaid in full with interest at the effective rate from the date of refund to the date of repayment. (c) In lieu of the retirement annuity otherwise payable under this Article, any city officer elected by vote of the people who (1) has elected to participate in the Fund and make additional optional contributions in accordance with this Section, and (2) has attained age 55 with at least 10 years of service credit, or has attained age 60 with at least 8 years of service credit, may elect to have his retirement annuity computed as follows: 3% of the participant's salary at the time of termination of service for each of the first 8 years of service credit, plus 4% of such salary for each of the next 4 years of service credit, plus 5% of such salary for each year of service credit in excess of 12 years, subject to a maximum of 80% of such salary. To the extent such elected city officer has made additional optional contributions with respect to only a portion of his years of service credit, his retirement annuity will first be determined in accordance with this Section to the extent such additional optional contributions were made, and then in accordance with the remaining Sections of this Article to the extent of years of service credit with respect to which additional optional contributions were not made. (d) In lieu of the disability benefits otherwise payable under this Article, any city officer elected by vote of the people who (1) has elected to participate in the Fund, and (2) has become permanently disabled and as a consequence is unable to perform the duties of his office, and (3) was making optional contributions in accordance with this Section at the time the disability was incurred, may elect to receive a disability annuity calculated in accordance with the formula in subsection (c). For the purposes of this subsection, such elected city officer shall be considered permanently disabled only if: (i) disability occurs while in service as an elected city officer and is of such a nature as to prevent him from reasonably performing the duties of his office at the time; and (ii) the board has received a written certification by at least 2 licensed physicians appointed by it stating that such officer is disabled and that the disability is likely to be permanent. (e) Refunds of additional optional contributions shall be made on the same basis and under the same conditions as provided under Sections 8-168, 8-170 and 8-171. Interest shall be credited at the effective rate on the same basis and under the same conditions as for other contributions. Optional contributions shall be accounted for in a separate Elected City Officer Optional Contribution Reserve. Optional contributions under this Section shall be included in the amount of employee contributions used to compute the tax levy under Section 8-173. (f) The effective date of this plan of optional alternative benefits and contributions shall be July 1, 1990, or the date upon which approval is received from the U.S. Internal Revenue Service, whichever is later. The plan of optional alternative benefits and contributions shall not be available to any former city officer or employee receiving an annuity from the Fund on the effective date of the plan, unless he re-enters service as an elected city officer and renders at least 3 years of additional service after the date of re-entry. However, a person who holds office as a city officer on June 1, 1995 may elect to participate in the plan, to transfer credits into the Fund from other Articles of this Code, and to make the contributions required for prior service, until 30 days after the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 92nd General Assembly, notwithstanding the ending of his term of office prior to that effective date; in the event that the person is already receiving an annuity from this Fund or any other Article of this Code at the time of making this election, the annuity shall be recalculated to include any increase resulting from participation in the plan, with such increase taking effect on the effective date of the election. (g) Notwithstanding any other provision in this Section or in this Code to the contrary, any person who first becomes a city officer, as defined in this Section, on or after the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 100th General Assembly, shall not be eligible for the alternative annuity or alternative disability benefits as provided in subsections (a), (b), (c), and (d) of this Section or for the alternative survivor's benefits as provided in Section 8-243.3. Such person shall not be eligible, or be required, to make any additional contributions beyond those required of other participants under Sections 8-137, 8-174, and 8-182. The retirement annuity, disability benefits, and survivor's benefits for a person who first becomes a city officer on or after the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 100th General Assembly shall be determined pursuant to the provisions otherwise provided in this Article.

Legislative History

(Source: P.A. 102-15, eff. 6-17-21.)