Montana Code 19-3-203. Conversion of local or state retirement plan
19-3-203. Conversion of local or state retirement plan. (1) If the legislative body of any city, county, or public agency having an existing retirement, pension, or annuity fund or system, referred to as the local system, desires to make the members of the local system members of the public employees’ retirement system, it may enter into a contract for that purpose with the board in the manner provided in 19-3-201. However, the employees voting, as provided in 19-3-201(2)(a), must be limited to active members of the local system, and approval requires an affirmative vote of two-thirds of the employees.
Terms Used In Montana Code 19-3-203
- Annuity: A periodic (usually annual) payment of a fixed sum of money for either the life of the recipient or for a fixed number of years. A series of payments under a contract from an insurance company, a trust company, or an individual. Annuity payments are made at regular intervals over a period of more than one full year.
- Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
- Contracting employer: means any political subdivision or governmental entity that has contracted to come into the system under this chapter. See Montana Code 19-3-108
- Defined benefit plan: means the plan within the public employees' retirement system established in 19-3-103 that is not the defined contribution plan. See Montana Code 19-3-108
- Employer: means the state of Montana, its university system or any of the colleges, schools, components, or units of the university system for the purposes of this chapter, or any contracting employer. See Montana Code 19-3-108
- Employer contributions: means payments to a pension trust fund pursuant to 19-3-316 from appropriations of the state of Montana and from contracting employers. See Montana Code 19-3-108
- retirement system: means the public employees' retirement system established in 19-3-103. See Montana Code 19-3-108
- State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the territories. See Montana Code 1-1-201
(2)Subject to the applicable provisions of this chapter, active members of the local system shall become members of either the defined benefit plan or the defined contribution plan of the retirement system and are no longer members of the local system. The pensions being paid to pensioners or annuitants of the local system on the effective date of the contract must be continued and paid at their existing rates by the public employees’ retirement system. The liability for the pensions must be computed by the actuary and charged to the contracting employer. All cash and securities held by the local system must be transferred to the retirement system as of the effective date of the contract and credited to the employer. The value of the securities must be determined by the board.
(3)The trustees or other administrative head of the local system as of the effective date of the contract shall certify the proportion, if any, of the funds of the system that represents the accumulated contributions of the active members and the relative shares of the members as of that date. The shares must be charged to the employer and credited as accumulated contributions of the members in the public employees’ retirement system and administered as if the contributions had been made during membership in the retirement system. Any excess of employer credits over charges under this section must be offset, with regular interest, against future required employer contributions. Any excess of employer charges over credits under this section must be payable by the contracting employer, with regular interest, on a monthly basis as specified in the contract.