§ 18-11-26 — Service pensions - Formulation of optional plan

North Dakota § 18-11-26

• Jurisdiction: North Dakota
• Title 18: Fires
• Ch. 18-11: Alternate Firefighters Relief Association Plan

Text

With the consent of the governing body of the city involved, and in substitution for a pension
payment schedule provided in section 18-11-15, a firefighters relief association may adopt a
monthly service pension plan for members of the association as provided in this section.
1. Retirement date is the first day of the month next following the month in which the
member attains the age of fifty-five years.
2. Retirement benefits for members reaching the retirement date equal an annual
amount, payable monthly, comprised of a service benefit that equals two and fifty
hundredths percent of final salary at the time of the member's retirement multiplied by
the number of years of service employment up to a maximum of thirty years. For
purposes of this subsection, final salary for a first-class firefighter is the final salary at
the time of the member's retirement and for officers or members of higher rank is the
average salary for the last five years of employment. As used in this subsection, salary
does not include overtime or longevity payments.
3. Upon termination of employment after completing ten years of eligible employment but
before the retirement date, a member is eligible to receive deferred vested retirement
benefits payable commencing on the retirement date equal to one hundred percent of
the member's accrued benefits.
4. Members participating in a firefighters relief association paying a monthly service
pension to members of the association under this section must serve ten years before
they are eligible for a service pension.
5. Members participating in a firefighters relief association who have been active
members for at least one year, and who are not receiving salary or accumulated sick
leave from the city and who are unable, because of physical or mental disability, to
perform the duties of a firefighter, are eligible to receive a disability pension from the
association. Disability benefits are not payable for a disability that occurs in a
firefighter's first year of membership in the association. The disability pension amount
is equal to a percentage of the monthly salary of a first-class firefighter on January
thirty-first of the year that the pension is paid, unless the member is eligible for a larger
service pension, in which case the member is entitled to draw an annual pension
amount equal to the member's service pension. The percentage of the monthly salary
of a first-class firefighter which is payable as a disability pension is dependent upon
the member's years of service as follows:
Years of Maximum
Completed Service Percentage
0 0%
1 10%
2 20%
3 30%
4 40%
5 50%
Benefits may not be increased by reason of increases in salary of a first-class
firefighter occurring after the initial calculation of pension benefits. The payments must
remain fixed, except the benefit earned by years of service computation. If a member
is receiving workforce safety and insurance benefits or other similar benefits, the sum
of the member's disability pension payable from the association and amounts received
in workforce safety and insurance benefits or other similar benefits may not be greater
than one hundred percent of the monthly salary of the member at the time the
member's disability began. However, when a member is no longer receiving workforce
safety and insurance benefits or other similar benefits, the member's disability pension
is payable in the amount as determined under this subsection without regard to
workforce safety and insurance benefits or other similar benefits, including the greater
of the amount of the disability pension or the service pension, if applicable.
6. Upon the recommendation of the association's actuary, a firefighters relief association
may provide a thirteenth check to pensioners and beneficiaries under the plan.
Payment of the thirteenth check is contingent upon portfolio performance as

determined by the association's actuary and may not be issued without approval of the
actuary.