(1) A member may retire upon written application to the system setting forth at what time, no more than ninety days before nor more than six months after the execution and filing of the application, the member desires to be retired, if the member at the time specified for the member’s service retirement has:

(a) five or more years of earned service or eight or more years of such service for a Class Three member;

Terms Used In South Carolina Code 9-11-60

  • Accumulated additional contributions: means a member's aggregate additional contributions, together with regular interest on the contributions. See South Carolina Code 9-11-10
  • Accumulated contributions: means the sum of all the amounts deducted from the compensation of a member and credited to the member's individual account in the employee annuity savings fund, together with regular interest on the account, as provided in this chapter. See South Carolina Code 9-11-10
  • Actuarial equivalent: means a benefit of equal value when computed on the basis of the tables and regular interest rate last adopted by the board, as provided in § 9-11-30. See South Carolina Code 9-11-10
  • Class Three member: means an employee member of the system with an effective date of membership after June 30, 2012. See South Carolina Code 9-11-10
  • Compensation: means the total remuneration paid to a police officer for service rendered to an employer for his full normal working time; when compensation includes maintenance, fees and other things of value, the board shall fix the value of that part of the compensation not paid in money directly by the employer. See South Carolina Code 9-11-10
  • Credited service: means a member's earned service and purchased service. See South Carolina Code 9-11-10
  • Earned service: means :

    (a) the paid employment of a member of the system with an employer participating in the system where the member makes regular retirement contributions to the system;

    (b) service rendered while participating in the State Optional Retirement Program, the Optional Retirement Program for Teachers and School Administrators, or the Optional Retirement Program for Publicly Supported Four-Year and Postgraduate Institutions of Higher Education that has been purchased pursuant to § 9-11-50(F); or

    (c) service with a participating employer in the system, the South Carolina Retirement System, the Retirement System for Members of the General Assembly, or the Retirement System for Judges and Solicitors that is transferred to or purchased in the system. See South Carolina Code 9-11-10
  • Member: means a person included in the membership of the system, as provided in this chapter. See South Carolina Code 9-11-10
  • Police officer: means a person who receives his salary from an employer and who is:

    (a) required by the terms of his employment, either by election or appointment, to give his time to the preservation of public order, the protection of life and property, and the detection of crimes in this State; or

    (b) an employee after January 1, 2000, of the South Carolina Department of Corrections, the South Carolina Department of Juvenile Justice, or the South Carolina Department of Mental Health who, by the terms of his employment, is a peace officer as defined by § 24-1-280. See South Carolina Code 9-11-10
  • Retirement allowance: means monthly payments for life under the system payable as provided in § 9-11-160. See South Carolina Code 9-11-10
  • Supplemental allowance program: means the supplemental allowance program established under the system as of July 1, 1966, and as in effect on June 30, 1974. See South Carolina Code 9-11-10
  • System: means the South Carolina Police Officers Retirement System. See South Carolina Code 9-11-10

(b) attained the age of fifty-five years or has twenty-five or more years of credited service, or twenty-seven or more years of such service for a Class Three member; and

(c) separated from service.

(2) Upon service retirement on or after July 1, 1989, the member shall receive a service retirement allowance which is equal to the sum of (a), (b), and (c) below:

(a) a monthly retirement allowance equal to ten dollars and ninety-seven cents multiplied by the number of years of his Class One service;

(b) a monthly retirement allowance equal to one-twelfth of two and fourteen hundredths percent of his average final compensation multiplied by the number of years of his Class Two or Class Three service;

(c) an additional monthly retirement allowance which is the actuarial equivalent of the member’s accumulated additional contributions.

The sum of the retirement allowances computed under (a) and (b) above may not be less than the allowance which would have been provided under (a) if all of the member’s credited service were Class One service. For a police officer who became a member before July 1, 1974, and who was a participant in the Supplemental Allowance Program, the portion of his service retirement allowance not provided by his accumulated contributions may not be less than it would have been if the provisions of the System in effect on June 30, 1974, had continued in effect until his date of retirement.