15-1431 Amending Police-Fire Pension Plan

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firefighters but does not include part -time firefighters or auxiliary firefighters. Effective October 1, 2015, all Firefighter Members ofthe System shall be employed by Seminole County as a result ofthe merger of the City Fire Department with the County. Police Officer means an actively employed full -time person employed by the City, including his initial probationary employment period, who is certified as a Police Officer as a condition of employment in accordance with the provisions of F.S. § 943.1395, who is vested with authority to bear arms and make arrests, and whose primary responsibility is the prevention and detection of crime or the enforcement of the penal, traffic, or highway laws of the State of Florida. Fund means the trust fund established herein as part of the System. Member means an actively employed Police Officer or Firefighter who fulfills the prescribed membership requirements. Unpaid volunteer police officers or firefighters are not included as members. Benefit improvements which, in the past, have been provided for by amendments to the System adopted by City ordinance, and any benefit improvements which might be made in the future shall apply prospectively and shall not apply to Members who terminate employment or who retire prior to the effective date of any ordinance adopting such benefit improvements, unless such ordinance specifically provides to the contrary. Plan Year means the 12 -month period beginning October 1 and ending September 30 of the following year. Retiree means a Member who has entered Retirement Status. Retirement means a Member's separation from City employment with eligibility for immediate receipt of benefits under the System or entry into the Firefighters' Deferred Retirement Option Plan. Salary means the total compensation for services rendered to the City as a Police Officer or rendered to the City and /or Counly as a Firefighter reportable on the Member's W -2 form plus all tax deferred, tax sheltered, or tax exempt items of income derived from elective employee payroll deductions or salary reductions. For Police Officer Members, for service earned after October 22, 2012 and for Firefighter Members, for service earned after November 13, 2012, (the "effective date "), Salary shall not include more than three hundred (300) hours of overtime per Eder• fiscal year and shall also not include payments for accrued unused sick or annual leave. However, payments for overtime in excess of three hundred (300) hours per fiscal year or accrued unused sick or annual leave accrued as of the effective date and attributable to service earned prior to the effective date, may still be included in Salary for pension purposes even if the payment is not actually made until on or after the effective date. With respect to unused sick leave and unused annual leave accrued prior to the effective date, Salary will include the amount of sick or annual leave time accrued on the effective date or the actual amount of sick or annual leave time for which the retiree receives payment at the time of retirement, whichever is less. Overtime earned as part of the Members' regularly scheduled hours of work (also known as "built -in" or "FLSA" overtime) will not count towards the 300 -hour annual overtime cap and will be considered pensionable earnings. Members who have reached age fifty -five (55) and completed six (6) or more years of credited service, or completed twenty -five (25) years of credited service, regardless of age on September 15, 2013. shall not be subject to the above 300 -hour limitation on overtime. Compensation in excess of the limitations set forth in section 401(a)(17) ofthe Code as of the first day of the Plan Year shall be disregarded for any purpose, including employee contributions or any benefit calculations. The annual compensation of each member taken into account in determining benefits or employee contributions for any Plan Year beginning on or after January 1,