Agenda 10-21-2025; 8-g - Approval of Amendments to the Orange County Code of Ordinances Section 28 – Personnel Regarding Law Enforcement Special Separation Allowance

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8 ORD-2025-035 Sec. 28-38. Retirement. (a) Membership in the North Carolina Local Government Retirement System is mandatory for full-time permanent and part-time permanent employees. Employees become a member of the North Carolina Local Governmental Employees' Retirement System on the date of hire if the duties require the employee work at least 1,000 hours a year and the employee is under age 62 at the date of hire. (b) Vested Right. After five years of service,employees are eligible for monthly retirement benefits based on salary, age, and years of service. (c) Service Retirement With 30 Years. After 30 or more years of creditable service,an employee is eligible for unreduced service retirement.An employee must not work nor be paid in advance for work dating the month following retirement. (d) Service Retirement A-tat Age 65. At age 65 or thereafter an employee is eligible for unreduced service retirement,with at least five years of service. (Age 55 if the employee is a member of the Law Enforcement Officer's Retirement System) (e) Post Retirement Increases. After retirement,an employee may become eligible for increases that become a permanent part of retirement benefits. (f) Disability. Disability benefits are available after five years of service,should the employee become permanently disabled, mentally or physically,for the further performance of duty as certified by the Medical Board of the Retirement System, upon written application to the Board of Trustees, be retired on a disability retirement allowance.This allowance is calculated as a service retirement allowance based on the average final compensation prior to retirement and the years of service the employee would have had at age 65. (g) Death Benefit. Death benefit is paid the beneficiary if death occurs in active service after one year of service. The beneficiary would be paid a death benefit equal to the compensation earned and on which contributions were made in the previous calendar year,or the compensation earned and on which contributions were made in the 12 months preceding the month of death,whichever is greater,subject to a maximum of $20,000.00. If death occurs within 90 days after the last day of actual service,the death benefit would be payable;or, if the employee had applied for and was entitled to receive a disability retirement allowance,the death benefit would be payable provided the disability retirement allowance had not been discontinued or revoked during the one-=year period. In case of resignation or termination, last day of actual service is the last day actually worked; in all other cases, it is the date on which sick and annual leave expires. (h) Tax Sheltering of Retirement Contributions. Effective July 1, 1982, Orange County elected a method of tax sheltering of member contributions to the North Carolina Local Government Employees' Retirement System. This change became effective January 1, 1983,for the N.C. Law Enforcement Officer Retirement System.This is funded by the same six percent retirement contribution deducted from a member's gross salary. Using this arrangement,there is no additional cost to an employer.The Retirement System will continue to credit the amount of contribution to the employee's account in the Retirement System.Also,the Retirement System would continue to recognize an employee's full salary for purposes of compensation.Should an employee terminate and request a refund,the total of contributions both before and after the election would be refunded. Upon a refund,the System will report to the Internal Revenue Service an employee's contribution made after the election of the pk-k+Fp2L1ku_p as taxable income in the year of the refund.At retirement,an employee has to pay Federal income tax on all amounts received over and above the contributions made prior to the date of election to tax shelter the contributions. (i) Supplemental Retirement Savings Plan Employer Contribution. (1) Orange County makes a Supplemental Retirement contribution to an authorized 401(k)or 457 Plan for each eligible employee as the Board of County Commissioners provides in its annual budget. (2) For this purpose,eligible employees are County employees both full time and part time(regularly scheduled at least 20 hours each workweek)appointed to permanent positions who are members of the N.C. Local Government Employees' Retirement System and who are not sworn law enforcement officers.See Section 28-38(j)for additional retirement benefits for Law Enforcement Officers.