§ 9-3-604 — Employee contributions

(a) Every employee covered by this article shall pay into
the fund fourteen and fifty-six hundredths percent (14.56%) of
his salary from July 1, 2014 through June 30, 2024 and
thereafter eighteen and ninety-two hundredths percent (18.92%)
of his salary.
(b) The contributions required by subsection (a) of this
section shall be paid by the employer for employees covered
under this article in order to be treated as employer
contributions for the sole purpose of determining tax treatment
under the United States internal revenue code.
(c) The contributions under subsection (b) of this section
shall be paid from the source of funds which is used in paying
salary to the employee. The employer may pay these contributions
by a reduction in cash salary of the employee or by an offset
against a future salary increase, or by a combination of a
reduction in salary and an offset against a future salary
increase, provided:
(i) No such salary reduction or offset, or
combination thereof, shall exceed the percentage amount actually
being deducted from an employee's salary for contributions to
the retirement program; and
(ii) Except as otherwise provided in this paragraph,
any employer may pay any amount of an employee's share of
retirement contributions without a salary reduction or offset,
or combination thereof. For the period from July 1, 2012 through
June 30, 2014, at least one and sixty-two hundredths percent
(1.62%), for the period from July 1, 2014 through June 30, 2016
at least one and ninety-six hundredths percent (1.96%), for the
period from July 1, 2016 through June 30, 2017 at least two and
thirty hundredths percent (2.30%), for the period from July 1,
2017 through June 30, 2024 at least two and sixty-four
hundredths percent (2.64%) and thereafter at least three and
three hundredths percent (3.03%) of the employee's share of
retirement contributions shall be paid through a reduction in
cash salary of the employee unless specified otherwise by
legislative act.