RESOLUTION NO. _____________

BOARD OF SUPERVISORS, COUNTY OF SAN MATEO, STATE OF CALIFORNIA

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RESOLUTION TERMINATING THE APPLICABILITY OF GOVERNMENT CODE SECTION 31676.1 TO SPECIFIED GENERAL MEMBERS OF THE COUNTY RETIREMENT SYSTEM AND MAKING GOVERNMENT CODE SECTION 31676.16 APPLICABLE TO SPECIFIED GENERAL MEMBERS OF THE COUNTY RETIREMENT SYSTEM

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RESOLVED, by the Board of Supervisors of the County of San Mateo, State of California, that

 

WHEREAS, presently general members' benefits for those members in Plan 1, Plan 2 or modified Plan 2 (also known as Plan 4) are calculated in accordance with Government Code section 31676.1; and

 

WHEREAS, Government Code section 31678.2 permits this Board to adopt a resolution specifying that any section of the County Employees Retirement Law ("CERL") prescribing a formula for calculation of retirement benefits be applicable to service credit earned on and after the date specified in the resolution, which date may be earlier than the date of the resolution, and permits this Board and the employee representatives to enter into a memorandum of understanding that requires members of the employees retirement association to pay all or part of the contributions by a member or employer, or both, that would have been required if the section or sections specified in this resolution as adopted by the Board had been in effect during the period of time designated in the resolution; and

 

WHEREAS, this Board desires to terminate the applicability of Government Code section 31676.1 to those active and deferred members in Plan 1, Plan 2 or modified Plan 2 effective July 20, 2003 and further desires to have Government Code section 31676.16 be applicable to all future and past general service back to the date of employment with the County of San Mateo for only those General active and deferred members in Plan 1, Plan 2 and modified Plan 2 effective July 20, 2003; and

 

WHEREAS, representatives of this Board have met and conferred with representatives of recognized general employee bargaining groups about proposed changes to the retirement benefits provided to County of San Mateo employees, and the Board and the employee representatives have executed memoranda of understanding agreeing to the changes to retirement benefits and required contributions with all employee organizations representing employees in the general retirement plan and this Board has adopted resolutions agreeing to the changes to the retirement benefit and required contributions with all unrepresented employees; and

 

WHEREAS, the memoranda of understanding agreeing to the changes to retirement benefits with the represented general employees and the resolutions covering the unrepresented general employees further provide that, if legislation authorizing a 1/120 employee contribution design is enacted that is applicable to Government Code section 31676.14, this Board will terminate the applicability of Government Code section 31676.16 and any rights thereto, effective March 13, 2005, to those active and deferred members in Plan 1, Plan 2 or modified Plan 2 and will implement for those members Government Code section 31676.14; and

 

WHEREAS, pursuant Government Code sections 7507 and 31516, enrolled actuaries employed by Mercer Human Resource Consulting performed valuations and provided a statement of the actuarial impact upon the future annual costs of the increase in retirement benefits associated with the implementation of Government Code section 31676.16 and those future annual costs were made public at the meeting of the Board of Supervisors on May 13, 2003; and

 

WHEREAS, Government Code section 31484.5 allows this Board to adopt a resolution terminating the applicability of a particular provision of the CERL for those current general employees who elect by written notice filed with the Board to have the applicability of the provisions terminated as to them, and this Board desires to allow current employees at the time of retirement to terminate the applicability of Government Code section 31676.16 and retain the applicability of Government Code section 31676.1 to them and will allow such notice to be filed with the Board of Retirement at the time of retirement;

 

NOW THEREFORE, IT IS HEREBY DETERMINED AND RESOLVED THAT:

A. Effective July 20, 2003, Government Code section 31676.1 shall no longer be applicable to those General active and deferred members in Plan 1, Plan 2 and modified Plan 2.

 

B. Effective July 20, 2003, Government Code section 31676.16 will become applicable to all future and past general service back to the date of employment with the County of San Mateo for only those General active and deferred members in Plan 1, Plan 2 and modified Plan 2 who are covered by the memoranda of understanding or resolutions entered into for all represented and unrepresented General employees, and who retire on or after July 20, 2003.

 

C. Active General members in Plan 1, Plan 2 and modified Plan 2 will share in the cost of the implementation of section 31676.16 to all future and past general service credit through increased retirement contributions by way of payroll deductions as follows:

REQUIRED COST SHARING MEMBER CONTRIBUTIONS

Effective August 31, 2003, these employees shall contribute 1% of compensation earnable as defined in SamCERA regulations.
Effective August 29, 2004, these employees shall contribute an additional 1% of compensation earnable as defined in SamCERA regulations for a total of 2%.
Effective March 13, 2005, these employees shall contribute an additional 1% of compensation earnable as defined in SamCERA regulations compensation earnable as defined in SamCERA regulations for a total of 3%.
These cost sharing contributions will not be reduced by employer pick-up of employee retirement contributions. These cost sharing contributions will not be reduced for employees with 30-years of service. In all other ways, these cost sharing contributions are to be treated in the same manner and are subject to the provisions in the CERL and SamCERA regulations as other employee contributions. These cost sharing contributions will be refunded at the time of retirement to those qualified general members who elect to terminate the applicability of Government Code section 31676.16 and to retain the applicability of Government Code section 31676.1 to them in respect to all of their service credit in accordance with paragraph D below.

 

D. Persons who are active General employees of the County of San Mateo prior to July 20, 2003, and who will receive a lower benefit under Government Code section 31676.16 or are deferred General Members of the San Mateo County Employees Retirement Association as of July 20, 2003, and who will receive a lower benefit under Government Code section 31676.16, may elect at the time of retirement by irrevocable written notice filed with the Board of Retirement to terminate the applicability of Government Code section 31676.16 and to retain the applicability of Government Code section 31676.1 to them in respect to all of their service credit, whether accrued before or after July 20, 2003. For those qualified members who do make this election, they shall be entitled to a return of the cost sharing contributions set forth in paragraph C above.

 

E. Government Code section 31676.16 shall be applicable prospectively to all General employees who are not in Plan 3 and who were first employed by the County of San Mateo on or after July 20, 2003, and such persons may not elect to have Government Code section 31676.16 made inapplicable to them as to any period of employment commencing on or after July 20, 2003.

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