§ 16-1007 — Retiring officer; annuity options; how determined; lump-sum payment option

(1) At any time before the retirement date, the retiring police
officer may elect to receive at his or her retirement date a pension benefit
either in the form of a straight life annuity or any optional form of annuity
benefit established by the retirement committee and provided under a purchased
annuity contract. The optional annuity benefit shall be specified in the funding
medium for the retirement system and shall include a straight life annuity
with a guarantee of at least sixty monthly payments or an annuity payable
for the life of the retiring police officer and, after the death of the retiree,
monthly payments, as elected by the retiring police officer, of either one
hundred percent, seventy-five percent, or fifty percent of the amount of annuity
payable to the retiring police officer during his or her life, to the beneficiary
selected by the retiring police officer at the time of the original application
for an annuity. The optional benefit forms for the retirement system shall
include a single lump-sum payment of the police officer's retirement value.
The retiring police officer may further elect to defer the date of the first
annuity payment or lump-sum payment to the first day of any specified month
prior to age seventy. If the retiring police officer elects to receive his
or her pension benefit in the form of an annuity, the amount of annuity benefit
shall be the amount paid by the annuity contract purchased or otherwise provided
by his or her retirement value as of the date of the first payment. Any such
annuity contract purchased by the retirement system may be distributed to
the police officer and, upon such distribution, all obligations of the retirement
system to pay retirement, death, or disability benefits to the police officer
and his or her beneficiaries shall terminate, without exception.
(2)(a) For all officers employed on January 1, 1984, and
continuously employed by the city from such date through the date of their
retirement, the amount of the pension benefit, when determined on the straight
life annuity basis, shall not be less than the following amounts:
(i) If retirement occurs following age sixty and with twenty-five
years of service with the city, fifty percent of regular pay; or
(ii) If retirement occurs following age fifty-five but before
age sixty and with twenty-five years of service with the city, forty percent
of regular pay.
(b) A police officer entitled to a minimum pension benefit
under this subsection may elect to receive such pension benefit in any form
permitted by subsection (1) of this section, including a single lump-sum payment.
If the minimum pension benefit is paid in a form other than a straight life
annuity, such benefit shall be the actuarial equivalent of the straight life
annuity that would otherwise be paid to the officer pursuant to this subsection.
(c) If the police officer chooses the single lump-sum payment
option, the officer can request that the actuarial equivalent be equal to
the average of the cost of three annuity contracts based on products available for purchase in Nebraska. Of
the three annuity contracts used for comparison, one shall be chosen by the
police officer, one shall be chosen by the retirement committee, and one shall
be chosen by the city. The
annuity contracts used for comparison shall all use the same type of sex-neutral
basis benefit calculation.
(3) If the retirement value of an officer entitled to a minimum
pension benefit under subsection (2) of this section is not sufficient at
the time of the first payment to purchase or provide the required pension
benefit, the city shall transfer such funds as may be necessary to the employer
account of the police officer so that the retirement value of such officer
is sufficient to purchase or provide for the required pension benefit.
(4) Any retiring police officer whose pension benefit is
less than twenty-five dollars per month on the straight life annuity option
shall be paid a lump-sum settlement equal to the retirement value and shall
not be entitled to elect to receive annuity benefits.

Legislative History

Source: Laws 1983, LB 237, § 7; Laws 1992, LB 672, § 11; Laws 2012, LB1082, § 7; Laws 2014, LB759, § 9.