294.12 Pension fund held for survivors upon termination.

1. In the event of such termination, all assessments of teachers shall cease upon such date of termination, or upon such earlier date as may be prescribed in such resolution, and no additional taxes shall be levied or assessed for the operation of such system, save as in section 294.13. All undisposed of funds and accumulations derived from the operation of said system, including the proceeds, when collected, of any annual tax heretofore levied for the operation of said system, and including the proceeds of any annual tax levied hereafter pursuant to the provisions of section 294.13, shall constitute a retirement liquidation fund. Such liquidation fund shall be held for the benefit of those surviving beneficiaries under such system as of said date of termination, and of members of such system as of the date of termination. There shall be set aside from such retirement liquidation fund an amount sufficient to provide for the payment of all surviving beneficiaries who shall be entitled to receive benefits under such system as of said date of termination, providing an actuarial computation has been made of the amount required to meet such benefit payments, providing the amount in the retirement liquidation fund is sufficient for this purpose, and the amount set aside shall be used for no other purpose than for the payment of claims to such beneficiaries. Any amount in excess of the actuarial equivalent of the sum required to pay such benefit payments shall be apportioned to persons who were as of the effective date of the termination of the system, members of such system, in proportion to the amount which the accumulated contribution of each such person bears to the total funds of such retirement system subject to such apportionment. Any member of such system as of the date of termination thereof, may, in lieu of receiving the cash refund of the member’s share of the liquidation fund, elect to come under the coverage of any new pension and annuity retirement system established by the district, to which the member is eligible, with credits toward future benefits in consideration of the member’s prior contributions and length of service, and may direct the transfer of the amount payable to the member to the assets of the new pension and annuity retirement system. In any case where the board of directors of a school district including a teachers retirement system established under the provisions of section 294.8, whose members were not under coverage of the Iowa old-age and survivors’ insurance system prior to May 1, 1953, the board of directors may authorize the payment from funds in excess of the actuarial amount estimated as required for the payment of benefits to persons entitled to them, and for the purpose of obtaining retroactive social security coverage from January 1, 1951, until the effective date of federal coverage of Iowa public employees as provided by chapter 97C. Each surviving beneficiary entitled to receive retirement benefits of the date of termination of the system will be entitled to receive retirement benefits at the time and in the amount in effect with respect to such beneficiary immediately prior to the date of termination.

2. In any school district which has pursuant to section 294.11 terminated a previously existing pension and annuity retirement system and has after actuarial computation established a retirement reserve fund pursuant to this section in order to pay to surviving beneficiaries entitled to receive retirement benefits at the date of termination of said system in the amount in effect with respect to such beneficiaries immediately prior to the date of termination, the board of directors may authorize each and every payment to each surviving beneficiary falling due subsequent to June 30, 1971, to be increased by an amount to be determined by the board such increased payments to be paid from the retirement reserve fund according to an actuarial computation thereof plus such additional amounts transferred from the general fund as may be required. In order to provide the additional amounts required from the general fund for such increased payments, the board of directors may annually at the meeting at which it estimates the amount required for the general fund in accordance with section 298.1 estimate such additional amount as an actuarial computation shall show is necessary from the general fund for the payment of such increased benefits for the current school year; provided the amount estimated and certified to be transferred from the general fund to the retirement reserve fund shall not exceed one and four-tenths cents per thousand dollars of the assessed valuation of the taxable property of the school corporation. The board of supervisors shall in accordance with the provisions of section 298.8 levy the taxes necessary to raise the amount estimated by the board of directors as above provided and certified to the board of supervisors. Upon the death of the last beneficiary to survive, any balance remaining in said retirement reserve fund shall be transferred to the general fund of said school district.

3. Notwithstanding the provisions of this section, the plan provisions of a pension and annuity retirement system of a school district established under this chapter regarding the determination and distribution of benefits upon termination of the retirement system shall be effective if the school district has received a favorable determination letter from the federal internal revenue service as to the qualified status of such retirement system under applicable provisions of the Internal Revenue Code.

[C50, 54, 58, 62, 66, 71, 73, 75, 77, 79, 81, §294.12]

98 Acts, ch 1183, §109; 2017 Acts, ch 54, §76

Referred to in §294.14