Minutes 10/28/1975 - Laserfiche WebLink

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233 October 28, 1975 75-434 The following ordinance, deferred from regular meeting of October 14 1975 was taken up and read: ' ' "AN ORDINANCE TO AMEND THE CODE OF THE CITY OF PORTSMOUTH, VIRGINIA, BY AMENDING SECTION 31-?? OF CHAPTER 31 THEREOF, PERTAINING TO REDUCTION OF DISABILITY RETIRE- MENT ALLOWANCE." The following report was presented by Richard F. Wood, Jr., Chairman, Supplemental a4~-FiT~:an~P~ice Retirement Board: "After careful consideration by the Board of Trustees and its staff, it is the opinion of this Board, that the ordinance amending sections 31F?Taa~d~31~%62 of the Code of the City of Portsmouth presently before the Council of the City of Portsmouth should be adopted as presented by the City Manager. It is the opinion of this Board that the amendments as proposed would cause the pension reductions for disability retirees who are gainfully employed to be substantially smaller than the reductions which would be required under the present formula as set forth in the City Code. It is the opinion of this Board that the amendments as proposed are substantially in compliance with the State of Virginia Supplemental Retirement System as required by the General Assembly of Virginia. It is the opinion of this Board that enforcement of the amendments as presented by the City Manager would be consistent with the administrative process of other retirement plans such as the Virginia Supplemental Retirement System, the Richmond Supplemental Retirement System and the Norfolk Supplemental Retirement System as well as the administratiw requirements of the Social Security Administration. These systems require annual earning reports from disability retirees and in some cases, both disabled and service recipients are required to make annual reports. The retirement allowances are thereby adjusted in accordance with the reported annual earnings. It is the opinion of this Board that the alternative proposal made by the Association of Retired Firemen and Policemen is not consistent with the total approach of the Portsmouth ~upplemental Retirement System and the Portsmouth Fire and Police Retirement System nor zs it substantially comparable to the Virginia Supplemental Retirement System as required by the General Assembly. The alternative proposal would continue to encourage otherwise unnecessary retirements by allowing a member to retire and to subsequently earn sums of money on other jobs such that the pension of the member plus the outside earnings would be considerably greater than the earnings which the member had while employed by the City of Portsmouth. It is the primary purpose of the proposed amendments as presented by the City Manager to maintain the stability of the retirement system in order that those employees who have lost all or a portion of their earning capacity due to disability may be cared for. The alternative proposal would completely change the concept of the Portsmouth Supplem mental Retirement System and the Portsmouth Fire and Police Retirement System to that of a continual compensation system. It is the opinion of this Board that prompt approval of the amendments as presented by the City Manager should be accomplished zn order to reduce confusion among retirees affected and those employees now contemplating retirement from the City of Portsmouth. Prompt consideration of ~he adoption of these amendm~n~s will enable the Board to adopt and publish its Retirement Handbook providing information for those people affected by the provisions of the retirement ordinance. Based on the foregoing considerations, the Board of Trustees of the Portsmouth Supple- mental Retirement System and the Portsmouth Fire and Police Retirement System at a regular meeting held on October 21, 1975, adopted this report and instructed its Secrstary to pro- vide copies of this report to the Mayor and Members of Council as an expression of the support of the Board of Trustees for the amendments as presented by the.City Manager." Wayne Lustig, Attorney, representing the Portsmouth FOP, Gosport Lodge, No. 20, spoke against and pre~ented the following petition: "We, the undersigned, as citizens of Portsmouth, believe an amendment should be made to Section 31-77 and Section 31-162 of theCCode of the City of Portsmouth to read as follows: 'Any person retiring on a disability received while an~employee of the City of Portsmout] should be entitled to 80% centum of the current rate of compensation of the position occupied immediately prior to his or her retirement, plus the Cost of Living indes, in addition to his or her average final compensation.' Signed by Nolan D.Michalski and others" (Approx. 235 signatures) David Casteel, 1909 Baltic Avenue, Virginia Beach, member of Portsmouth FOP, relinquishe his time to Attorney Lustig. On motion of Mr. Wenta and seconded by Mr. Early, the ordinance was adopted, and by the following vote: Ayes: Early, Oast, Wentz, Davis Nays: Barnes, Elliott