SECTION 9.01. PENSIONS FOR MEMBERS OF POLICE AND FIRE DEPARTMENTS.
(a) TRUSTEES WHO SHALL CONSTITUTE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF POLICE AND FIRE RELIEF OR PENSION FUND. The Mayor of the City of Albany, the City Treasurer, the City Clerk, and one (1) Pension Plan member, active or retired, each from the Police and Fire Departments, appointed by the Mayor upon the recommendation of the Pension Plan members from their respective service, hereby constitute the Board of Trustees of the Police and Fire Relief or Pension Fund of the Police and Fire Departments of the City of Albany, County of Alameda, State of California, which Board shall be known as the "Board of Police and Fire Pension Fund Commissioners."
In the event that the regular members of the Board are unable to attend a meeting, alternates shall be permitted to attend and to vote on matters as if they were regular members. The City Council shall appoint another member of the Council to serve as an alternate for the Mayor. The City Council shall appoint alternates for the City Clerk or the City Treasurer, after recommendations from the City Clerk and the City Treasurer are submitted to the Council. Department heads or deputies from departments other than the Police or Fire Department may be appointed. All alternates may serve for a period of up to one (1) year, unless again appointed.
Alternates for the Police and Fire Departments regular members are to be appointed by the Mayor upon recommendation of the Pension Plan members.
If no Pension Plan members are able to sit on the Board as a regular member or alternate, a member from the active Civil Service Employees of the Police and Fire Departments shall be appointed by the Mayor upon the recommendation of the Pension Plan members to sit on the Board as that respective department's representative. (Ratified, January 7, 1955; Amended, ratified, April 10, 1984; Amended, ratified, April 14, 1992; Amended, ratified, June 2, 1998)
(b) ORGANIZATION OF OFFICERS. They shall organize as such Board annually at the first meeting after a General Municipal Election or on the equivalent date in years when no municipal election takes place, by choosing one of their number as Chairperson. The Board shall appoint a person to serve as secretary and administrative assistant to the Pension Board. Said Board of Trustees shall have charge of and administer said fund, order payments therefrom in pursuance of the provisions of this law. They shall report annually, in the month of June, to the City Council of the City of Albany, the condition of the Police and Fire Relief and Pension Fund, and the receipts and disbursements on account of the same, with a full and complete list of the beneficiaries of said fund and the amounts paid them. (Amended, ratified, April 10, 1990)
(c) PENSIONS, TO WHOM AND AMOUNTS. Whenever any person at the taking effect of this act, or thereafter, shall have been duly elected, appointed or selected, and sworn, and have served for thirty (30) years, or more, in the aggregate as a member, in any capacity or any rank, whatever, of the regularly constituted Fire or Police Department of the said City of Albany, County of Alameda, State of California, said Board shall, upon the application of such person, order and direct that such person be retired from further service in such Police or Fire Department, shall cease, and such person so retired shall thereafter, during his lifetime, be paid from such fund a yearly pension equal to two-thirds (2/3) of the amount of the average yearly salary attached to the rank which he may have held in said Police or Fire Department for the period of three (3) years preceding the date of such retirement; provided, however, that any person, after becoming fifty (50) years of age, who comes within the purview of this Section, and who has served for the consecutive number of years set forth below, shall upon his application be retired from further service upon a yearly pension equal to the percentage of the amount of said average yearly salary, which said percentage is set forth opposite the years served, as follows:
| Years of Service | Percentage of Amount of Said Average Yearly Salary |
| 25 | 50.00 |
| 26 | 53.33 |
| 27 | 56.67 |
| 28 | 60.00 |
| 29 | 63.33 |
Notwithstanding any provision of this Chapter, the retirement allowance payable to any person who becomes a member on or after January 1, 1990, shall in no event exceed the limitation imposed by Section 415(b) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 as applied (other than paragraph (2)(G) without regard to paragraph (2)(F) and as adjusted by Section 45-15(d)(1)(A) and (B). Section 415(b), 415(D)(1)(A) and (B) are hereby incorporated by reference. It is the intent of this paragraph to further provide that any member who joined this plan prior to January 1, 1990, be exempted from any limitations which have been enacted in the Internal Revenue Code as part of the Tax Reform Act of 1986 and the Technical and Miscellaneous Revenue Act of 1988. (Amended, ratified, February 4, 1971; April 10, 1990)
(d) PHYSICAL DISABILITY: RESTORATION. Whenever any person while serving as a member of the Fire or Police Department of the City of Albany shall become physically disabled by reason of any bodily injury received in the immediate or direct performance or discharge of his duty as such member of the Police or Fire Department, said Board may, if it deems it to be for the good of said Police or Fire Department, retire such person from said department, and order and direct that he shall be paid from said fund, during his lifetime, a yearly pension equal to one-half (1/2) of the amount of salary attached to the rank which he may have held on such Police or Fire Department at the date of such retirement; provided, that when such disability shall cease, such pension shall cease, and such person shall be restored to active service at the same rank at which he was retired. Upon the death of such person then on disability pension, the widow and/or children of the deceased member of the Police or Fire Department shall receive the same benefits from the Fire or Police Relief or Pension Fund as provided in paragraph (q) of Section 9.01 of the Charter of the City of Albany. (Ratified, March 7, 1961)
(dd) NON-SERVICE DISABILITY. Whenever any person, at the taking effect of this section, while serving as a member of the Fire or Police Department of the City of Albany, prior to eligibility for service retirement, shall become disabled by reasons not connected with the immediate or direct performance or discharge of his duty as such member of the Fire or Police Department, if said disability renders him incapable of performing his duties in his respective Department, said Board may, if it deems it to be for the good of said Fire or Police Department, retire such person from said Department and order and direct that he shall be paid from said Fund, during his lifetime, a yearly allowance equal to one and one-half percent (1.5%) of said member's final compensation multiplied by his years of service, but in no event shall said allowance exceed one-third (1/3) of his final compensation; provided, further, if the member has completed at least ten (10) years of service at the time of said disability, possible future service up to age sixty (60) may be used, but in no event shall said allowance exceed one-third (1/3) of final compensation; provided that when such disability shall cease, such allowance shall cease, and such person shall be restored to active service at the same rank at which he was retired. Upon the death of such person then receiving non-service disability allowance, the widow and/or children of the deceased member of the Fire or Police Department shall receive the same benefits from the Fire and Police Relief or Pension Fund as provided in paragraph (q) of Section 9.01 of the Charter of the City of Albany.
Final compensation as used in this subsection is defined as `the highest average annual compensation, excluding overtime, earnable by said member during any period of three (3) consecutive years during his membership in the system'. (Ratified, February 4, 1971)
(e) EVIDENCE OF DISABILITY TO BE FILED. No person shall be retired, as provided in subsections (d) or (dd) of this Section 9.01, or receive any benefit from said fund, unless there shall be filed with said Board certificates of his or her disability, which certificates shall be subscribed and sworn to by said person, and by two regularly licensed practicing physicians of the State of California who, unless otherwise agreed by the prospective retiree and the Board, practice in the San Francisco Bay Area, and such Board may require other evidence of disability before ordering such retirement and payment as aforesaid. (Amended, ratified, February 4, 1971; November 6, 1979; April 8, 1986)
(f) PENSION TO FAMILY. Whenever any member of the Fire or Police Departments of such City of Albany, at the taking effect of this act, or thereafter, shall lose his life while in the performance of his duty, leaving a widow, or child or children under the age of eighteen (18) years, then upon satisfactory proof of such facts made to it, such Board shall order and direct that yearly pension, equal to one-half (1/2) of the salary attached to the rank which such member held in said Fire or Police Department at the time of his death, shall be paid to such widow during her life, or if no widow, then to child or children, until they shall be eighteen (18) years of age; provided, if such widow or child or children shall marry, then such person so marrying shall thereafter receive no further pension from such fund. (Amended, ratified, February 4, 1971)
(g) STIPULATED SUM TO FAMILY. Whenever any person while serving as a member of the Police or Fire Departments of the City of Albany shall die from natural causes, unrelated to his service as a member of said Police or Fire Departments, then his widow or children, or if there be no widow or children, then his parents or parent, or if there be no widow or children, or parents or parent, then the brothers and sisters of said member, or the survivor of them, shall receive a sum equal to the total amount of the payments made by said person into said fund together with interest on said sums at the rate of three and one-half percent (3 1/2%) per annum computed from the date said sums were paid into said fund by said member, within ninety (90) days from the date of the death of said member. (Amended, ratified, January 7, 1955; February 4, 1971)
(h) RE-EXAMINATIONS. Any person retired for disability under this act may be summoned before the Board herein provided for at any time thereafter, and shall submit thereto for examination as to fitness for duty, and shall abide the decision and order of such board with reference thereto. (Amended, ratified, January 26, 1935; April 13, 1976)
(i) FORFEITURE OF PENSION. Refund of contributions. When any person who shall have received any benefit from said fund shall fail to report for examination for duty as required by said Board under this act, in respect to said examination or duty, then such Board shall order that such pension allowance as may have been granted to such person shall immediately cease, and such person shall receive no further pension, allowance or benefit under this act. Excepting, nevertheless, that any member of the Police or Fire Department, who, for any reason whatever ceases to be a member of the Police or Fire Department, and who at the time of said cessation is not otherwise entitled to financial benefits under this law, shall be entitled to, and shall be paid within ninety (90) days after such cessation of being a member, all sums of money retained from and out of his or her salary, as provided by subsection (1) of this law, together with three and one-half percent (31/2 %) per annum interest on such sums, computed from the first day of July of each year. Provided further, that any member of the Police or Fire Department who shall have ceased to be a member and shall have been paid any sum or sums of money as in this section provided, shall be reinstated and again become a member of the Police or Fire Department, said such sum or sums of money as shall have been so paid, together with interest at the rate of three and one-half percent (31/2 %) per annum from the date of said payment as aforesaid shall be first deducted from any and all benefits thereafter by him received under this law. (Amended, ratified, March 7, 1961; April 13, 1976)
(j) MEETINGS AND DUTIES OF BOARD. The Board herein provided for shall hold monthly meetings on one of the last five business days of each month for which pension payments have accrued; and upon the call of its Chairperson, the specific day of the week to be set by Board resolution at its annual reorganization meeting. Additional meetings may be called by its Chairperson. It shall issue warrants signed by two voting members present at the meeting when the warrants were approved to persons entitled thereto of the amount of money ordered paid to such person from such fund by said Board, which warrant shall state for what purpose said payment is to be made; it shall keep a record of all its proceedings, which records shall be public records; it shall, at each monthly meeting, send to the Auditor of the City of Albany a list of all persons entitled to payments of the funds herein provided for, stating the amount of such payments and for what granted, which list shall be certifed to and signed by the President and Secretary of such Board, and attested under oath. The Auditor shall thereupon enter a copy of said list upon a book to be kept for that purpose, which shall be known as "The Police and Fire Relief Pension Fund Book." Payment of the amount named therein shall then be made out of the Police and Fire Relief and Pension Fund, and need not be approved by the Council prior to payment. However, the said list shall be entered by the Auditor and transmitted to the City Council for approval and ratification at the next meeting after the delivery of the pension checks. A majority of all of the members of said Board herein provided for shall constitute a quorum and have power to transact any and all business. (Amended, ratified, January 7, 1955; May 29, 1968; April 10, 1990)
(k) OTHER POWERS OF BOARD. The Board herein provided for shall, in addition to other powers herein granted, have power:
First. To compel witnesses to attend and testify before it, upon all matters connected with the operation of this act, in the same manner as is or may be provided by law for the taking of testimony before notaries public; and its president, or any member of the Board, may administer oaths to such witnesses.
Second. To provide for the payment from said fund of all its necessary expenses; provided that no compensation or emolument shall be paid to any member of said Board for any duty performed or required under this act.
Third. To make all needful rules and regulations, for its guidance, in conformity with the provisions of this act.
(l) MONEYS TO BE PAID INTO POLICE AND FIRE RELIEF AND PENSION FUND. The City Council of the City of Albany shall, for the purpose of said Police and Fire Relief and Pension Fund hereinbefore mentioned, direct the payment into said fund as follows:
"A sum equal to nine percent (9%) out of and from the total amount of the monthly payroll of all of the members of both of said Departments for the current month, shall be retained by the City Treasurer, and shall be paid into said Police and Fire Relief and Pension Fund by the City; in addition thereto, the City shall contribute an equal amount to said fund monthly. The City may make such other contributions to the said fund when actuarial studies reveal the necessity thereof. Said monies shall, in the discretion of the said Police and Fire Pension Trustees, be invested at not less than three and one-half percent (31/2%) per annum, if such rate of interest is obtainable. (Amended, ratified, January 13, 1949; June 15, 1966; August 16, 1967; February 4, 1971)
(m) MERGER OF OTHER INSURANCE FUNDS. Any police, fire, life and health insurance fund, or any fund provided by law, heretofore existing in the City of Albany for the relief or pensioning of members of the Police or Fire Department, or their life or health insurance, or for the payment of a sum of money on their death, shall be merged with, paid into and constitute a part of the fund created under the provisions of this act; and no person who has resigned or been dismissed from said Police or Fire Department shall be entitled to any relief from such fund, provided that any person who within one year prior to the passage of this act, has been dismissed from the Police or Fire Department for incompetency or inefficiency, and which incompetency or inefficiency was solely by sickness or disability contracted or suffered while in service as a member thereof, and who has, prior to said dismissal, served for twelve (12) or more years as such member, shall be entitled to all the benefits of this act.
(n) Any and all benefits payable under the provisions of this law shall not be additional to and supplemental to any compensation insurance or other insurance covering the scope of this law for the benefit of members of the Police or Fire Department and paid for by the City of Albany from sources other than under this law, but the benefits of said such compensation or other insurance paid for by the City of Albany shall first be deducted from benefits payable under the provisions of this law to the end that said members of the Police or Fire Department shall receive an aggregate total of benefits paid for by the City of Albany and not included in this law, and the benefits provided for under this law, not to exceed in total the highest amounts or sums provided under the provisions of this law.
(o) REPORTS. On the last day of June of each year, or as soon thereafter as practicable, the Auditor of the City of Albany shall make a report to the City Council of all monies paid out on account of said fund during the previous year, and of the amount then to the credit of the Police and Fire Relief and Pension Fund Payments provided for in this law shall be made and paid out quarterly, upon proper voucher. (Amended, ratified, January 26, 1935)
(p) PENSIONS. If at any time those persons affected by the provisions of this election should, for the purpose of obtaining a more satisfactory and financially sound system of pensions and benefits than is herein set forth, desire to take advantage of the provisions of any law or laws of the State of California, now or hereafter in effect, relating to the subject matter of this section, they are hereby empowered to do so by following such procedure as may be set forth in such State law or laws. (Amended, ratified, February 20, 1940)
(q) SERVICE RETIREMENT PENSIONER'S BENEFITS TO WIDOW AND CHILDREN. Whenever any member of the Police or Fire Department of the City of Albany, shall, after receiving the service retirement pension that has been ordered and directed by the Board of Police and Fire Pension Fund Commissioners, die from any cause whatsoever, leaving a widow or widower who was married to the pensioner at least five (5) years before his retirement, or unmarried children under eighteen (18) years of age, then said survivor shall be entitled to and upon satisfactory proof, the Board shall order and direct that a pension equal to one-half (1/2) of the amount paid to the pensioner each month before his death shall be paid to the widow or widower each month during his or her life, or if there should be no widow or widower, then to his or her unmarried children until they are eighteen (18) years of age, provided, that if such widow or widower or child or children shall marry, then such persons so marrying shall thereafter receive no further pension from such funds.
Upon the death of a service retired pensioner, the widow or widower, if any, shall be entitled to no part of his or her service retired pension unless he or she was married to the pensioner before his service retirement.
Upon the death of any service retired pensioner, the widow or widower, if any, who was married less than five (5) years prior to the pensioner's retirement shall then be entitled to and upon satisfactory proof, the Board shall order and direct that a pension equal to one-sixth (1/6) of the amount paid each month to the pensioner before his or her death, shall be paid to the widow or widower each month during his or her life; provided that if such widow or widower shall marry, then such person so marrying shall receive no further pension from such fund.
The term "widow or widower" as used in this Section shall not mean or include the wife or husband of any member who is without cause living separate or apart from said pensioner at the time of the death of said pensioner, or who is divorced from said pensioner.
In the event of refusal by a widow or widower receiving a pension hereunder to reasonably provide for a dependent child or children of a deceased or retired member of the Fire or Police Department, the Pension Board, upon satisfactory proof thereof, shall have power to divide the pension as it may deem proper. (Ratified, January 10, 1957)
(r) PUBLIC EMPLOYEES RETIREMENT SYSTEM PROGRAM. All provisions of Chapter 9.01 hereof, and the said Police and Fire Relief and Pension Fund hereinbefore set forth, shall not benefit any person whose employment by the City of Albany commences on or after the effective date of this subsection, and none of the provisions of this Chapter shall apply to obligate, or benefit any such persons, as all members of the Fire and Police Departments of the City of Albany to be hired or reinstated, shall be members of the Public Employees Retirement System of the State of California.
The City Council shall, by Ordinance, authorize the Mayor and the City Clerk to execute on behalf of the City, a contract between the City Council of the City of Albany and the Board of Administration of the California Public Employees Retirement System, which contract shall provide for a retirement system no less than that provided by the one-half pay at 55 retirement program-local safety members of the California Public Employees Retirement System in effect on the effective date of this subsection.
The City Council shall have the power to do all acts and things necessary and appropriate to perform such contract with said System, and to comply with the provisions of said retirement law, and to execute such amendments to said contract as may be permitted from time to time under said retirement law at the discretion of the City Council. (Amended, ratified, February 4, 1971)
(s) CONTINUED INSURANCE COVERAGE. The City Council may, by ordinance, establish a procedure for deductions from pension payments funds, or payments by retirees, for the continuation upon retirement of an employee's participation in any group health or life insurance program. Contribution rate, if any, between the City and the individual's retirees association shall be pursuant to a procedure established by ordinance. The fund, or funds, for any contributions made by the City, for premium payments, shall be designated by the City Council, by ordinance, which fund may include the Police and Fire Relief or Pension Fund. (Added, April 19, 1977)
SECTION 9.01 (c), (g), (dd), (e), (f), (1) and (r) ratified February 2, 1971, shall become effective on July 1, 1971, and benefits accruing thereunder shall apply only to such persons becoming eligible therefor after the said effective date, and shall not apply to persons receiving benefits prior to said effective date, who shall continue to receive said benefits pursuant to the then existing provisions. (Ratified, February 4, 1971)