State Codes and Statutes
Statutes > Arkansas > Title-24 > Chapter-11 > Subchapter-4 > 24-11-41924-11-419. Credited service -- Purchase of military service by active police in cities of 75,000.
(a) (1) Any person who on July 20, 1979, was an active member of the police department of any city having a population of seventy-five thousand (75,000) or more persons according to the 1970 Federal Decennial Census shall be entitled to purchase credited service in the policemen's pension and relief fund of the city for the time the person served on active duty in the armed forces of the United States.
(2) No member shall be entitled to purchase more than two (2) years of credited service in a pension fund for service in the armed forces.
(b) (1) The policemen's pension and relief fund in each city having a population of seventy-five thousand (75,000) or more persons according to the 1970 Federal Decennial Census is authorized to allow the purchase of service credit for military service as provided in this section whenever it is determined by an actuary employed by the Arkansas Local Police and Fire Retirement System who is a member of the American Academy of Actuaries that it is and has been actuarially feasible for a period of five (5) years for the policemen's pension and relief fund to pay both the benefits provided under this section and all other benefits provided by law from the policemen's pension and relief fund.
(2) The Executive Director of the Arkansas Fire and Police Pension Review Board shall state the actuarial findings in writing to the board of trustees and shall certify the appropriate action to be taken.
(c) A policemen's pension and relief fund shall be deemed to be actuarially sound if the unfunded liabilities of the fund can be funded over a period of not more than thirty (30) years, based on the current available and known revenue or income sources available to the policemen's pension and relief fund.
(d) (1) (A) An explanation by the board of trustees of the policemen's pension and relief fund outlining the increase in active member benefits shall be filed with the executive director.
(B) The executive director shall determine that an actuarial valuation has been made in accordance with the provisions of this section and that the actuarial valuation has determined that the proposed increase in benefits may be funded over a period of time set forth in subsection (c) of this section based upon available or defined revenue sources of the relief fund, in which event the executive director may approve the increase to member or beneficiary benefits under the policemen's pension and relief fund.
(2) All actions of the executive director shall be subject to review and acceptance by the Arkansas Fire and Police Pension Review Board.
(e) A copy of the explanation by the board of trustees, a copy of the actuarial evaluation, and a copy of the action taken by the executive director shall be filed with the circuit clerk and the city clerk of the county and city in which the policemen's pension and relief fund is located.
(f) (1) A member of any pension and relief fund who desires to purchase credited service in the fund for military service as provided in this section shall make application therefor to the board of trustees of the fund and shall furnish the board proof of the military service of the applicant, as well as proof that the applicant was honorably discharged from the armed forces.
(2) Within such time as may be prescribed by the board, the member shall pay into the fund such amount of money as the board determines would have been contributed to the fund by or on behalf of the applicant had he or she been a member of the fund during his or her term of military service, based on the contributions made to the fund by or on behalf of the member at the time he or she first became a member of the fund, together with interest thereon at the rate of six percent (6%) per annum beginning six (6) months after the member became eligible to purchase the credit.
(g) (1) The cost of the actuarial valuation made under the provisions of this section shall be paid by the board of trustees of the policemen's pension and relief fund which proposes to increase member or beneficiary benefits under the fund.
(2) The actuarial valuation shall include:
(A) The current financial and actuarial status of the income and liabilities of the firemen's and policemen's pension and relief fund;
(B) A detailed statement of the proposed benefit increases;
(C) A comparison reflecting that the level of contributions and other income under the pension and relief fund is sufficient to amortize the unfunded liabilities resulting from the benefit increase over a thirty-year period; and
(D) An evaluation determining whether, in the opinion of the actuary, the income under the policemen's pension and relief fund will be actuarially sound.
