(a)Any county officer elected by vote of the people 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 procedures established by the board. Such elected county 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 9-170 and 9-176.
(2)For service before the option
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(a) Any county officer elected by vote of the people 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 procedures established by the board. Such elected county 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 9-170 and 9-176. (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. (b) In lieu of the retirement annuity otherwise payable under this Article, any county 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 60 with at least 10 years of service credit, or has attained age 65 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 county 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. (c) In lieu of the disability benefits otherwise payable under this Article, any county 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 (b). For the purposes of this subsection, such elected county officer shall be considered permanently disabled only if: (i) disability occurs while in service as an elected county 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. (d) Refunds of additional optional contributions shall be made on the same basis and under the same conditions as provided under Sections 9-164, 9-166, and 9-167. Interest shall be credited at the effective rate on the same basis and under the same conditions as for other contributions. Optional contributions under this Section shall be included in the amount of employee contributions used to compute the tax levy under Section 9-169. (e) The effective date of this plan of optional alternative benefits and contributions shall be January 1, 1988, 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 county officer or employee receiving an annuity from the Fund on the effective date of the plan, unless he re-enters service as an elected county officer and renders at least 3 years of additional service after the date of re-entry. (f) Any elected county officer who was entitled to receive a stipend from the State on or after July 1, 2009 and on or before June 30, 2010 may establish earnings credit for the amount of stipend not received, if the elected county official applies in writing to the fund within 6 months after July 2, 2010 (the effective date of Public Act 96-961) and pays to the fund an amount equal to (i) employee contributions on the amount of stipend not received, (ii) employer contributions determined by the Board equal to the employer's normal cost of the benefit on the amount of stipend not received, plus (iii) interest on items (i) and (ii) at the actuarially assumed rate. (g) The plan of optional alternative benefits and contributions authorized under this Section applies only to county officers elected by vote of the people on or before January 1, 2008 (the effective date of Public Act 95-654).