§3550. Bossier City; optional benefits

A. In lieu of service retirement benefits as provided by R.S. 11:3548 and survivor benefits as provided by R.S. 11:3553, any active member of the police retirement plan of Bossier City, who retires on or after October 1, 1988, may elect to participate in a modified benefit plan in accordance with the provisions of this Section.

B. The modified benefits selected shall be actuarially equivalent to the service retirement benefit to which the member would otherwise be entitled under R.S. 11:3548, and the survivor benefit the surviving spouse would otherwise be entitled to under R.S. 11:3553.

C. The election shall be made, prior to the first payment of unmodified benefits becoming due, in accordance with rules and regulations of the board of trustees.

D.(1) The member may elect one of the following optional benefit plans:

(a)(i) Upon the member's death, in the same manner as the member was receiving benefits, the surviving spouse shall begin to receive an amount equal to the payments which were being made to the member.

(ii) Upon the member's death, in the same manner as the member was receiving benefits, the surviving spouse shall begin to receive an amount equal to the payments which were being made to the member provided that if the designated beneficiary predeceases the retiree, the retiree's reduced benefit shall change to the maximum benefit effective on the first day of the next month following notification of the death of the designated beneficiary.

(b)(i) Upon the member's death, in the same manner as the member was receiving benefits, the surviving spouse shall begin to receive an amount equal to one-half of the payments which were being made to the member.

(ii) Upon the member's death, in the same manner as the member was receiving benefits, the surviving spouse shall begin to receive an amount equal to one-half of the payments which were being made to the member, provided that if the designated beneficiary predeceases the retiree, the retiree's reduced benefit shall change to the maximum benefit effective on the first day of the next month following notification of the death of the designated beneficiary.

(2) These payments shall continue for as long as the surviving spouse remains unmarried.

(3) If an option is selected under this Subsection and the retiree's spouse was designated as the beneficiary, and a judgment of divorce is rendered with respect to the retiree and the spouse, and, in connection therewith, the spouse, irrevocably, by court order, relinquishes the spouse's survivorship rights under the option originally selected by the retiree, the originally selected option shall be considered revoked and the retiree shall be considered as retired under the maximum benefit, subject to reduction as hereinafter set forth, and without affording the retiree the right to select an option under which the retiree could designate a new beneficiary, and the benefits payable to the retiree shall be increased to the amount the retiree would have received had the retiree selected the maximum benefit, adjusted for any cost-of-living increase granted to the retiree, less any amount required as a result of such change in retirement status to render the new benefit to be the actuarial equivalent of the maximum benefit. The retiree shall be required to reimburse the system, by way of a one time deduction from the retiree's next benefit check, the reasonable cost incurred by the system to have these calculations made. The retiree shall be required to contractually hold the system harmless in the event that the former spouse ever successfully asserts a property right relative hereto which has any adverse effect upon the system. It shall be the responsibility of the retiree to notify the system of these circumstances, to present satisfactory evidence of same, and to request the recomputation of benefits. Adjustment of benefits under this Subsection shall not be retroactive, and shall be effective on the first day of the next month following official approval of the application for recomputation of benefits.

E.(1) In the event of the death, prior to retirement, of an active member, with credit in the plan for at least twenty years, the surviving spouse shall receive, in lieu of survivor benefits as provided in R.S. 11:3553, eighty percent of the benefit to which the member would have been entitled had the member been eligible to retire on the date of death.

(2) These payments shall continue for as long as the surviving spouse remains unmarried.

Acts 1988, 2nd Ex. Sess., No. 22, §1, eff. Oct. 27, 1988; Redesignated from R.S. 33:2234.3 by Acts 1991, No. 74, §3, eff. June 25, 1991; Acts 1992, No. 550, §1, eff. July 1, 1992; Acts 1995, No. 606, §1.

{{NOTE: SEE ACTS 1992, NO. 550, §3 FOR RETROACTIVITY.}}