NORTH CAROLINA GENERAL ASSEMBLY

1979 SESSION

 

 

CHAPTER 94

SENATE BILL 202

 

 

AN ACT TO PROVIDE A SUPPLEMENTAL RETIREMENT FUND FOR FIREMEN IN THE CITY OF REIDSVILLE AND TO MODIFY THE APPLICATION OF G.S. 118-5, G.S. 118-6, AND G.S. 118-7 TO THE CITY OF REIDSVILLE.

 

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

 

Section 1.  Supplemental retirement fund created.  The Board of Trustees of the Local Firemen's Relief Fund of the City of Reidsville as established in accordance with G.S. 118-6, hereinafter called the board of trustees, shall create and maintain a separate fund to be called the Reidsville Firemen's Supplemental Retirement Fund, hereinafter called the Supplemental Retirement Fund, and shall maintain books of account for such fund separate from the books of account of the Local Firemen's Relief Fund.  The board of trustees shall pay into the Supplemental Retirement Fund the funds prescribed by this act.

Sec. 2. Transfers of funds and disbursements. Notwithstanding the provisions of G.S. 118-7, the Board of Trustees of the Local Firemen's Relief Fund of the City of Reidsville shall:

(1)       Prior to January 1 in each calendar year, transfer to the Supplemental Retirement Fund funds belonging to the Firemen's Relief Fund in an amount sufficient to pay supplemental retirement benefits in accordance with Section 3 of this act and any expenses related to the administration of the Supplemental Retirement fund; provided, however, that the amount of funds in the Firemen's Relief Fund shall not be less than fifty thousand dollars ($50,000) after said transfer.

(2)       As soon as practical after January 1 of each year, but in no event later than July 1, divide funds belonging to the Supplemental Retirement Fund into equal shares and disburse the same as supplemental retirement benefits in accordance with Section 3 of this act.

Sec. 3. Supplemental retirement benefits. (a)  Each retired fireman of the city whether volunteer or paid, who has previously retired with 20 years service, or more, as a fireman of the City of Reidsville shall be entitled to and shall receive in each calendar year following the calendar year in which he retires the following supplemental retirement benefits: (1) retired full-time fireman, one share for each full year of service as a fireman of the City of Reidsville; (2) retired volunteer fireman, one-half of one share for each full year of service as a volunteer firemen of the City of Reidsville; provided, in no event shall any retired full-time fireman be entitled to or receive in any year an annual supplemental retirement benefit in excess of eight hundred dollars ($800.00), and in no event shall any retired volunteer fireman be entitled to or receive in any year an annual supplemental retirement benefit in excess of four hundred dollars ($400.00).

(b)       Any former fireman of the city who is not otherwise entitled to supplemental retirement benefits under this section, shall nevertheless be entitled to such benefits in any calendar year in which the board of trustees makes the following written findings of fact:

(1)       that he initially retired from his position as fireman because of his inability, by reason of sickness or injury, to perform the normal duties of an active fireman; and

(2)       that, within 30 days prior to or following his initial retirement as a fireman, at least two physicians licensed to practice medicine in North Carolina certified that he was at such time unable, by reason of sickness or injury, to perform the normal duties of an active fireman; and

(3)       that, at the time of his initial retirement, there was not available to him in the fire department or in any other department of the city a position of employment the normal duties of which he was capable of performing; and

(4)       that, since the preceding January 1, at least two physicians licensed to practice medicine in North Carolina have certified that he remains unable, by reason of sickness or injury, to perform the normal duties of an active fireman; and

(5)       that there remains unavailable to him in the fire department or in any other department of the city a position of employment the normal duties of which he is capable of performing; provided, that the board of trustees, after initially making the findings of fact specified in (1), (2), and (3) of this subsection, need not specify such findings in subsequent calendar years.

Sec. 4. Investment of funds. The board of trustees is hereby authorized to invest any funds, either of the Local Firemen's Relief Fund or of the Supplemental Retirement Fund, in any investment named in or authorized by either G.S. 159-30 or G.S. 159-31, and is hereby directed to invest all of the funds belonging to the Supplemental Retirement Fund in one or more such investments; provided, that investment in certificates of deposit or time deposit in any bank or trust company, or in shares of any savings and loan association, shall not exceed the amount insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or the Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corporation, as the case may be, unless such deposits or investments in shares are secured in the manner provided by G.S. 159-30 or G.S. 159-31.

Sec. 5. Acceptance of gifts. The board of trustees is hereby authorized to accept any gift, grant, bequest, or donation of money for the use of the Supplemental Retirement Fund.

Sec. 6. Bond of treasurer. The board of trustees shall bond the treasurer of the Local Firemen's Relief Fund with a good and sufficient bond, in an amount at least equal to the amount of funds in his control, payable to the board of trustees, and conditioned upon the faithful performance of his duties; such bond shall be in lieu of the bond required by G.S. 118-6. The board of trustees is hereby authorized to pay the premiums for the bond of the treasurer from the Supplemental Retirement Fund.

Sec. 7. Administrative costs. The board of trustees shall pay from the Local Firemen's Relief Fund the cost of each annual audit and all other necessary expenses incurred in the administration of the fund.

Sec. 8. City authorized to make payment. The governing body of the City of Reidsville is hereby authorized and may at its discretion make appropriations and disburse funds to the Supplemental Retirement Fund.

Sec. 9. Purpose of act. The purpose of this act is to revise and consolidate certain acts concerning the establishment and operation of a supplemental retirement fund for the firemen of the City of Reidsville and to modify the application of G.S. 118-5, G.S. 118-6, and G.S. 118-7 to the City of Reidsville. It is intended to continue without interruption those provisions of prior acts which are consolidated into this act, so that all rights and liabilities that have accrued are preserved and may be enforced.

Sec. 10. Acts repealed. The following acts or portions of acts, having served the purposes for which they were enacted, or having been consolidated into this act are hereby repealed:

Chapter 412, Session Laws of 1969

Chapter 168, Session Laws of 1973

Chapter 1159, Session Laws of 1973.

Sec. 11. Rights not affected. No provision of this act is intended, nor shall be construed, to affect in any way any rights or interests (whether public or private):

(1)       now vested or accrued, in whole or in part, the validity of which might be sustained or preserved by reference to any provisions of law repealed by this act;

(2)       derived from, or which might be sustained or preserved in reliance upon, action heretofore taken pursuant to or within the scope of any provisions of law repealed by this act.

Sec. 12. Severability. If any provision of this act shall be declared invalid by a court of competent jurisdiction, such invalidity shall not affect other provisions hereof which can be given effect without the invalid provision, and to this end the provisions of this act are declared to be severable.

Sec. 13. Repealer. All laws and clauses of laws in conflict with this act are hereby repealed.

Sec. 14. This act is effective upon ratification.

In the General Assembly read three times and ratified, this the 26th day of February, 1979.