SESSION LAW 2006-117

AN  ACT  TO  AMEND  THE LAW ESTABLISHING THE CHARLOTTE  FIREMEN'S RETIREMENT SYSTEM.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

           Section  1.   Section 1 of Chapter  830  of  the  1991 Session Laws, as amended by Chapter 171 of the 1995 Session  Laws and  Chapter 640 of the 1993 Session Laws, which rewrote  Chapter 926 of the 1947 Session Laws, as amended, reads as rewritten:
      Section 1.  Chapter 926, 1947 Session Laws, as amended, is rewritten to read:

TITLE I.  PREFACE.

      Section  1.  Introduction.  The Charlotte  Firemen's Retirement System  heretofore  established  pursuant to the provisions  of Chapter 926 of the 1947 Session Laws, as  amended,is hereby continued and shall hereafter be known as the Charlotte Firefighters'  Retirement System.  The purpose of  the  Charlotte Firefighters'  Retirement System shall be to provide  retirement, disability  and survivor benefits for the uniformed employees  of the  Charlotte Fire Department who are entitled thereto under the provisions of this act.  This act shall be officially  known  and may  be  referred  to  as the Charlotte Firefighters' Retirement System Act.
      Section  2.   Definitions.   The  following  words  and phrases  as  used  in this act shall have the indicated  meanings unless a different meaning is clearly required by the context.
           (1)      `Accrued Benefit' means the amount of monthly retirement benefits earned by a Member computed, as of any date, on his  Final Average Salary and Membership  Service Credit  as  of  such  date.  In no event shall  the  Accrued Benefit  be  less than the Accrued Benefit as  of  June  30, 1986.
           (1a)     `Act' means Chapter 926 of the 1947 Session Laws, as amended.
           (2)     `Actuarial Equivalent' means a benefit payable by  the System that is determined by the Actuary to be equal to  the  basic benefit provided by the System based  on  the interest  rate  and  the  mortality  and  other  tables  and assumptions  adopted  for  such purposes  by  the  Board  of Trustees. In  no event shall any Actuarial  Equivalent be less  than the corresponding Actuarial Equivalent as of June 30,1987,  based on the Accrued Benefit and the assumptions in effect on that date.

           (3)      `Actuarial Valuation' or `Valuation' means  a determination   of  the  normal  costs,  actuarial accrued liability,  actuarial value of assets and related  actuarial present  values of the System performed by an Actuary which are  based  on  the  characteristics of  the  System. Such characteristics  include,  but  are  not  limited  to,  age, service,   salaries,   and  rate  of  turnover   by   death,   disability, termination or retirement.
           (3a)      `Adjustment Factor' means the cost of living adjustment  factor  prescribed  by  the  Secretary  of the Treasury  under  section  415(d)  of  the Code for years beginning  after December 31, 1987, applied to  those items and in the manner the Secretary prescribes.
           (4)      `Armed Forces' means the Armed Forces of the United States of America.
           (5)        `Audit' means an examination of the accounting records  of  the  System  performed by  a  certified  public accountant  or  certified  public  accounting  firm. Such examination  is  to determine if said records  are  properly maintained  and to make recommendations and suggestions for better record-keeping and management.
            (6)       `Beneficiary', `Designated Beneficiary', or `Surviving Beneficiary' means any person, or persons, who is in receipt of, or who is designated in writing to receive,a retirement benefit or other benefit as provided in this act.
           (7)     `Board   of   Trustees', `Board'    or 'Trustees' means the Board of Trustees  of  the  Charlotte  Firefighters'  Retirement System, as specified in Section 29, or any individual Member thereof.
          (8)     `City' means the City of Charlotte.
          (8a)    `Code'  means the Internal Revenue  Code of 1986, as amended.
         (9)     `Compensation' means the remuneration reportable on Form W-2 earned by a  Member for  services performed as  an  employee of the Charlotte  Fire  Department prior to any reductions pursuant to Sections 125, 401(k), 402(e)(3), 414(h)(2), 403(b), 408(k)(6) and 457 of the Internal Revenue Code. Compensation shall include payments for unused sick and vacation days, longevity payments, bonus payments and merit increases.  For the  purpose of calculating a Member's Final Average Salary, (i) payments for unused sick and vacation days shall be included as Compensation to the extent the vacation and sick days, for which payments are made, could have accrued during two Plan Years of the Member’s last five years of Membership Service, and (ii) payments for longevity shall be included as Compensation to the extent such payments were made during two Plan Years  of the Member’s last five years of Membership Service.  Effective July 1,  2002, for purposes of applying the limitations described in Section 51 of this Act, compensation paid or made available during such limitation years shall also include elective amounts that are not includible in the gross income of the Member by reason of Section 132(f)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code.