Ordinance No. 2022-11 Amending Code Section 36-27 Police Pension and Trust Fund to Permit Buy-Back of Credits for Prior Military Service - July 19, 2022 CITY OF AVENTURA ORDINANCE NO. 2022-11
AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF AVENTURA, FLORIDA, AMENDING
CHAPTER 36 "RETIREMENT," ARTICLE II "POLICE PENSION PLAN
AND TRUST FUND," BY AMENDING SECTION 36-27 "BUY-BACK FOR
MILITARY SERVICE, PRIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT OR
CORRECTIONAL OFFICER SERVICE" TO PERMIT BUY-BACK OF
SERVICE CREDITS FOR PRIOR MILITARY SERVICE; PROVIDING FOR
REPEAL; PROVIDING FOR SEVERABILITY; PROVIDING FOR
INCLUSION IN THE CODE; AND PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE
DATE.
WHEREAS, the City of Aventura (the "City") maintains a defined benefit pension
plan for its certified police officers, which is known as the City of Aventura Police Officers'
Retirement Plan (the "Plan"), and which is codified in Chapter 36 of the City Code; and
WHEREAS, the Plan permits members to buy back military service earned while
on a leave of absence to count towards pension credit for the City; and
WHEREAS, the City Commission desires to permit members to also buyback
service credits for periods of active military service prior to first and initial employment
with the City; and
WHEREAS, the City Commission finds that it is in the best interest of the City and
its employees to amend the Plan; and
WHEREAS, prior to Second Reading of this Ordinance, the City Commission has
received, reviewed and considered an actuarial impact statement describing the actual
impact of the amendments provided for herein.
NOW THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY COMMISSION OF THE
CITY OF AVENTURA, FLORIDA':
Section 1. That each of the above-stated recitals are hereby adopted and
confirmed.
Section 2. That Chapter 36 "Retirement," Article II "Police Pension Plan and
Trust Fund," Section 36-27, "Buy-back for military service, prior law enforcement or
correctional officer service," of the City Code of Ordinances be amended by adding a new
subsection and re-lettering the subsequent subsections, as follows:
Words in str eeu type are deletions from exist text and word in underline type are additions to existing
text.
City of Aventura Ordinance No. 2022-11
Sec. 36-27. — Buy-back for military service, prior law enforcement or
correctional officer service.
(b) Any member of the Plan who is employed by the City shall be entitled
to buy-back service credits for years or fractional parts of years that
the member has served on active duty in the military service of the
United States prior to first and initial employment with the City of
Aventura police department, with a lifetime maximum of four years
of service credits, if:
(1) The cost of prior service credit is paid, which shall be the full
actuarial cost of all prior service credit purchased hereunder
computed as a lump sum payment into the plan that would have
occurred had the member been employed by the City of Aventura
as a police officer, for the period of prior service credit purchased.
(2) A nonrefundable payment is made for the costs of all professional
services (e.g. actuarial calculations) rendered to the Board and
administrative costs in connection with the purchase of years of
credited service.
(3) The buy-back request is made only once if followed by the
purchase, and the purchase timely paid in full before retirement
or entering the DROP, based on a lump sum or a required
installment payoff schedule. Installment payments shall be
made through a payroll deduction in accordance with Section
414(h) of the Internal Revenue Code. The payments shall be
treated as tax-deferred picked up contributions. Contributions
shall continue until death, disability or termination of service,
whichever shall occur first. If the member cannot pay the
remainder balance upon separation, they shall have the option
to receive either prorated credit for the service purchased to
date or a refund of amounts already paid to date without any
service credit. Any payoff schedule shall require the execution
of an irrevocable authorization form specifying the amount of the
Payment and the duration of the authorization. The specified
amount shall be determined by the Alan's actuary to be sufficient
to pay the entire actuarial cost of the purchase within the
specified duration of the payment authorization, which duration
shall not extend beyond the earliest date upon which the
employee would become eligible for normal retirement
under Section 36-26. The amount provided in the payment
authorization shall include interest, as calculated by the plan's
actuary, at the retirement Alan's actuarially assumed rate of
return on investments.
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City of Aventura Ordinance No. 2022-11
(4) Such service credit is counted as continuous service for
purposes of benefit calculations, but not for purposes of vesting
or eligibility for benefits under this Retirement Plan.
LL{-b)Any member of the plan who is employed by the City shall be
entitled to buy-back service credits for the periods of public law
enforcement employment with another employer, with a lifetime
maximum of four years of service credits, if:
LqL�c4 Any member of the plan who is employed by the City shall be
entitled to buy-back service credits for the periods of correctional
institution employment with another employer, with a lifetime
maximum of four years of service credits, if:
(e) {d}A member who is receiving, or will receive the pension benefit for
military service, prior law enforcement or correctional institution
experience in any other pension plan supported by public funds,
excluding a military pension, may not use that service for purchased
prior service pursuant to this section for this Pension Plan;
provided, a member may make a direct transfer of eligible rollover
distributions of all or any portion of the balance in another eligible
retirement plan that is attributable to such other prior law
enforcement or correctional institution experience to purchase
additional service, in accordance with Subsection 36-27(e), and
shall execute a Board-provided form acknowledging the same.
{e) The Plan fund will accept member rollover cash contributions and/or
direct cash rollovers of distributions for the purchase of service as
authorized under Section 36-27, as follows:
Section 3. Repeal. All sections or parts of sections of the Code of Ordinances
of the City of Aventura, all ordinances or parts of ordinances, and all resolutions or parts
of resolutions in conflict herewith, be and the same are hereby repealed to the extent of
such conflict.
Section 4. Severability. Should any section or provision of this Ordinance, or
any paragraph, sentence or word, be declared by a Court of competent jurisdiction to be
invalid, such decision shall not affect the validity of the remainder hereof, as a whole or a
part hereof, other than the part declared to be invalid.
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City of Aventura Ordinance No. 2022-11
Section 5. Inclusion in the Code. It is the intention of the City Commission of
the City of Aventura that the provisions of this Ordinance shall become and be made a
part of the Code of Ordinances of the City of Aventura and that the sections of this
Ordinance may be renumbered or relettered and the word "ordinance" may be changed
to "Chapter", "Section", "Article", or such other appropriate word or phrase, the use of
which shall accomplish the intentions herein expressed.
Section 6. Effective Date. This Ordinance shall be effective upon passage by
the City Commission on second reading.
The foregoing Ordinance was offered by Commissioner Friedland who moved its
adoption on first reading. This motion was seconded by
Commissioner Joel and upon being put to a vote, the vote was as follows:
Commissioner Billy Joel Yes
Commissioner Rachel S. Friedland Yes
Commissioner Dr. Linda Marks Yes
Commissioner Marc Narotsky Yes
Commissioner Robert Shelley Yes
Vice Mayor Denise Landman Yes
Mayor Enid Weisman Yes
The foregoing Ordinance was offered by Commissioner Joel who moved its
adoption on second reading. This motion was seconded by
Commissioner Dr. Marks upon being put to a vote, the vote was as follows:
Commissioner Billy Joel Yes
Commissioner Rachel S. Friedland Yes
Commissioner Dr. Linda Marks Yes
Commissioner Marc Narotsky Yes
Commissioner Robert Shelley Yes
Vice Mayor Denise Landman Yes
Mayor Enid Weisman Yes
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City of Aventura Ordinance No. 2022-11
PASSED on first reading this 14th day of June, 2022.
PASSED AND ADOPTED on second reading this 19th day of July, 2022.
ENID WEISMAN, MAYOR
ATTEST:
AAA��Z
ELLISA L. HORVA , MMC
CITY CLERK
APPROVED AS TO LEGAL SUFFICIENCY:
If I
CITY ATTORNEY
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