160A-163. Retirement benefits.

(a) The council may provide for enrolling city employees in the Local Governmental Employees' Retirement System, the Law-Enforcement Officers' Benefit and Relief Fund, the Firemen's Pension Fund, or a retirement plan certified to be actuarially sound by a qualified actuary as defined in subsection (d) of this section, and may make payments into any such retirement system or plan on behalf of its employees. The city may also supplement from local funds benefits provided by the Local Governmental Employees' Retirement System, the Law-Enforcement Officers' Benefit and Relief Fund, or the Firemen's Pension Fund.

(b) The council may create and administer a special fund for the relief of members of the police and fire departments who have been retired for age, or for disability or injury incurred in the line of duty, but any such funds established on or after January 1, 1972, shall be subject to the provisions of subsection (c) of this section. The council may receive donations and devises in aid of any such fund, shall provide for its permanence and increase, and shall prescribe and regulate the conditions under which benefits may be paid.

(c) No city shall make payments into any retirement system or plan established or authorized by local act of the General Assembly unless the plan is certified to be actuarially sound by a qualified actuary as defined in subsection (d) of this section.

(d) A qualified actuary means an individual certified as qualified by the Commissioner of Insurance, or any member of the American Academy of Actuaries.

(e) A city which is providing health insurance under G.S. 160A-162(b) may provide health insurance for all or any class of former employees of the city who are receiving benefits under subsection (a) of this section or who are 65 years of age or older. Such health insurance may be paid entirely by the city, partly by the city and former employee, or entirely by the former employee, at the option of the city.

(f) The council may provide a deferred compensation plan. Where the council provides a deferred compensation plan, the investment of funds for the plan shall be exempt from the provisions of G.S 159-30 and G.S. 159-31. Cities may invest deferred compensation plan funds in life insurance, fixed or variable annuities and retirement income contracts, regulated investment trusts, or other forms of investments approved by the Board of Trustees of the North Carolina Public Employee Deferred Compensation Plan.

(g) Should the council provide for a retirement plan, a plan which supplements a State-administered plan, or a special fund, any benefits payable from such plan or fund on account of the disability of city employees may be restricted with regard to the amount which may be earned by the disabled former employee in any other employment, but only to the extent that the earnings of disability beneficiaries in the Local Governmental Employees' Retirement System are restricted in accordance with G.S. 128-27(e)(1).