§3551. Bossier City; Deferred Retirement Option Plan

A. In lieu of terminating employment and accepting a service retirement allowance under R.S. 11:3548, any member of this system who has at least twenty years of creditable service and who is eligible to receive a service retirement allowance may elect to participate in the deferred retirement option plan and defer the receipt of benefits in accordance with the provisions of this Section.

B. For purposes of this Section, creditable service for eligibility purposes only shall include service credit reciprocally recognized under R.S. 11:142.

C. The duration of participation in the plan shall be specified and shall not exceed three years.

D. A member may participate in the plan only once.

E.(1) Upon the effective date of the commencement of participation in the plan, membership in the system shall terminate and neither employee nor employer contributions shall be payable.

(2) For purposes of this Section, compensation and creditable service shall remain as they existed on the effective date of commencement of participation in the plan.

(3) The monthly retirement benefits that would have been payable, had the member elected to cease employment and receive a service retirement allowance, shall be paid into the deferred retirement option plan account.

(4) Upon termination of employment, deferred benefits shall be payable as provided by Subsection H.

F.(1) A person who participates in this program shall not be eligible to receive a cost-of-living increase while participating and shall not be eligible until his employment which makes him eligible to be a member of this plan has been terminated for at least one full year.

(2) The Deferred Retirement Option Plan account shall earn interest at a rate of one-half of one percent below the percentage rate of return of the system's investment portfolio as certified by the actuary in his yearly evaluation report, said interest to be credited to his individual account balance on an annual basis.

G. The deferred retirement option plan account shall not be subject to any fees, charges, or other similar expenses of any kind for any purpose.

H. Upon termination of employment at the end of the specified period of participation, the monthly benefits that were being paid into the fund during the period of participation shall begin being paid to the retiree. A participant in the program shall receive, at his option, a lump sum payment from the account equal to the payments to the account, or a true annuity based upon his account, or he may elect any other method of payment if approved by the board of trustees.

I.(1)(a) If a participant dies during the period of participation in the program, and he has selected an optional allowance designating his spouse as beneficiary, such beneficiary shall receive, at the beneficiary's option, a lump sum payment of the participant's account balance, or the beneficiary may elect any other method of payment approved by the board of trustees as if the participant had retired on the date of death; in addition, the normal benefits payable to the designated beneficiary under the option selected shall be payable.

(b) In the event the designated beneficiary is not the participant's spouse, and is entitled to monthly benefits under the option selected, such beneficiary shall receive, at his option, a lump sum payment of the participant's account balance or he may elect to receive the balance in the account under any method that will cause a total distribution of the account over a period not to exceed five years; in addition, the normal benefits payable to the designated beneficiary under the option selected shall become payable.

(c) If there is no designated beneficiary, a lump sum payment of the participant's account balance shall be paid to his estate.

(2) If a participant terminates employment prior to the end of the specified period of participation, the monthly benefits that were paid into the fund during the period of participation shall begin being paid to the retiree. He shall receive, at his option, a lump sum payment from the account equal to the payments to the account, or a true annuity based upon his account balance, or he may elect any other method of payment if approved by the board of trustees.

J. If a member of the board of trustees of the fund elects to participate in the deferred retirement option plan he shall continue to serve as a member of the board of trustees until the expiration of the term for which he was elected or until his employment terminates, whichever occurs first.

Acts 1989, No. 600, §1; Acts 1991, No. 58, §1, eff. July 1, 1991; Redesignated from R.S. 33:2234.4 by Acts 1991, No. 74, §3, eff. June 25, 1991; Acts 1993, No. 365, §1, eff. June 3, 1993; Acts 1993, No. 480, §1, eff. June 9, 1993; Acts 1995, No. 590, §1.

{{NOTE: SEE ACTS 1989, NO. 600, §2.}}