§ 203-7-A. Purchase of Prior Service Credit From Eligible Systems.

(a)

A Member of PERS who becomes an Employee of an employer in a position covered by this Retirement System shall not become a Member of this system if while employed in such position, the employer and the Employee are required to make contributions to PERS based upon the employment with the employer.

If the employer and the Employee are not required to make contributions to PERS based upon the employment with the employer, the Employee shall become a Member of this Retirement System. In addition, pursuant to Section 203-8, the Employee shall be allowed, at the Employee's option, to obtain credit for credited service the Member has in PERS.

(b)

An Active Member of the Retirement System who has non-contributing prior service shall be allowed, at the Employee's option, to obtain Creditable Service for the time served as a City Employee, as defined in Section 203-1-E, by depositing in this system an amount equal to 100 percent of the amount determined by the actuary chosen by the Retirement System, to be necessary to fund the pension payable on account of the Member's period of service purchased under this section.

Any Employee desiring to exercise the option to purchase Creditable Service for non-contributing prior service shall make application to the Board of trustees of the Retirement System, which application shall be accompanied by a non-refundable $250 application fee for the cost of the actuarial study required by subsection (b) hereof and the costs of staff time required for the retrieval of payroll records. If the Employee purchases credit the $250 fee shall be applied toward the cost of such purchase.

At the time of application, an Employee shall provide payroll records or other proof of prior non-contributing service for periods prior to December 31, 1982 for which City records are not available, in a form and manner acceptable to the Board. The decision of the Board as to whether or not such payroll records provide proper verification of prior non-contributing service shall be final. City payroll records shall be used for all calculations pertaining to prior service which occurred on or after January 1, 1983.

Applications under this subsection (b) may be filed by all persons who were Employees, as defined in Section 203-1-E of this Chapter, on or after July 3, 1996. Applications for purchase of service credit under this subsection (b) shall be made on or before November 1, 1998 or within thirty-six (36) months of the date of becoming a Member of the Retirement System, whichever is later.

(c)

The minimum number of years of service required under the provisions of Section 203-42, 203-43 and Section 203-44 for health care benefits cannot be supplied by the purchase of credit under the provisions of this section; however, credit purchased under the provisions of this Section will be applied to years of City service in excess of the required minimum number of years of service in order to determine the percentage of premiums to be paid by the Retirement System on behalf of a retired Member.

(C.O. 203-7-A; ordained by Ord. No. 445-1997, eff. Dec. 17, 1997; a. Ord. No. 352-2001, eff. Oct. 31, 2001; a. Ord. No. 336-2016, § 1, eff. Nov. 26, 2016)