§1767. Limitations on benefits

A.(1) Notwithstanding any other provision of this system to the contrary, no member shall receive a benefit in any year in excess of the sum of the maximum employer-financed benefit and the member-financed benefit.

(a) The maximum employer-financed benefit shall equal the sum of ninety thousand dollars, except that it may exceed that sum if the excess is caused by adjustments made pursuant to this Section.

(b) The maximum employer-financed benefit for the year 1999, as adjusted, shall equal one hundred thirty thousand dollars. The member-financed benefit is the annual benefit that can be provided by annuitizing the member's after-tax accumulated contributions.

(2) Any benefit reduction required by this Section shall, to the extent possible, reduce the monthly pension to which the member would otherwise have been entitled and shall not affect the member's Deferred Retirement Option Plan account.

B.(1)(a) If the annual benefit begins before the member attains age sixty-two, the ninety thousand dollar limit described in Subparagraph A(1)(a) of this Section, as adjusted, shall be reduced in a manner prescribed by the United States secretary of the treasury.

(b) The adjustment authorized by Subparagraph (a) of this Paragraph may not reduce the member's annual benefit below seventy-five thousand dollars, if the member's benefit begins at or after age fifty-five, or the actuarial equivalent of seventy-five thousand dollars beginning at age fifty-five if benefits begin before age fifty-five.

(2)(a) If the annual benefit begins after the member attains age sixty-five, the ninety thousand dollar limit set forth in Subparagraph A(1)(a) of this Section, as adjusted, shall be increased so that it is the actuarial equivalent of the ninety thousand dollar limit at age sixty-five. The ninety thousand dollar limit on annual benefits, but not the seventy-five thousand dollar limit set forth in Subparagraph B(1)(b) of this Section, shall be adjusted annually as provided by Section 415(d) of the United States Internal Revenue Code and the regulations prescribed by the United States secretary of the treasury to reflect cost-of-living adjustments.

(b) The annual adjusted limit, set forth in Subparagraph (a) of this Paragraph, is effective as of January first of each calendar year and is applicable to benefits commencing during that calendar year. As a result of a cost-of-living increase, a benefit that had been limited by the provisions of this Section in a previous year may be increased with respect to future payments to the lesser of the new limit or the amount of benefit that would have been payable from this system without regard to the provisions of this Section.

(3) Annual benefits may not be paid in an amount greater than the accrued benefit under the plan. The maximum benefit limit, set forth in Subsection A of this Section, shall apply to a single-life annuity. If the benefit is payable in a form other than a single-life annuity, the maximum limit shall apply to the pension that is the actuarial equivalent of such single-life annuity, using an applicable interest rate and mortality table as prescribed by the United States Internal Revenue Service; however, the limit shall not be reduced for any benefit received as a disability retirement allowance or any payments received by the beneficiaries, survivors, or estate of a member as a result of the death of the member.

C. An annual benefit may be paid to any member in excess of the limit otherwise allowed in Subsection A of this Section if the annual benefit derived from the employer contributions under this and all other qualified plans of the employer subject to the limitations of Section 415(b) of the United States Internal Revenue Code does not, in the aggregate, exceed ten thousand dollars for the plan year or for any prior year; and the member has not at any time participated in a defined contribution plan maintained by the employer. For purposes of this Subsection, a member's own contributions to the system are not considered a separate defined contribution plan maintained by the employer.

D.(1) If a member is or has been a participant in one or more defined contribution plans maintained by the employer, the sum of the member's contributions paid to this system and any other qualified defined benefit plans of the employer and the annual additions under such defined contribution plan or plans may not exceed the lesser of twenty-five percent of the member's earned compensation or thirty thousand dollars, as adjusted by the United States Secretary of the Treasury.

(2) The sum of the "defined benefit plan fraction" and the "defined contribution plan fraction", as those terms are defined in Section 415 of the United States Internal Revenue Code, for any plan year in which Section 415 of the United States Internal Revenue Code is in effect, may not exceed one, for any calendar year in which the limits of Section 415(d) of the United States Internal Revenue Code are in effect and enforced by the United States Internal Revenue Service. If the sum of the defined benefit plan fraction and the defined contribution plan fraction exceeds one, in any such year for any member, or if the benefits under this plan and one or more other defined benefit plans of the employer would otherwise exceed the maximum employer-financed benefit, and the administrator of the other plan or plans does not reduce the contributions or benefits under such other plan, the employer-financed benefit payable by this system shall be reduced to the extent necessary to ensure compliance with the limitations provided in Section 415 of the United States Internal Revenue Code.

E.(1) If the United States Congress or the United States Internal Revenue Service, or both, later cause to be amended, any laws, regulations, or other guidelines pertaining to Section 415 of the United States Internal Revenue Code in order to permit higher service retirement benefits, then, for any retired member who had previously had a benefit reduced because it exceeded the limits set forth in this Section, the Board shall recalculate the retired member's benefit to be the smaller of either:

(a) The unreduced benefit based on this system's service retirement benefit formula in effect on the date the member retired.

(b) The maximum permissible benefit calculated under such amended laws or regulations.

(2) If a retroactive change is permissible, the board shall pay the retired member in a single payment an amount equal to the difference between the adjusted higher monthly benefit and the reduced benefit for the number of months the member has received the reduced benefit. However, no member shall receive any benefit under this Section to the extent that he has received a distribution with respect to such benefit from an excess benefit plan as set forth in Part VIII of this Chapter.

Acts 1999, No. 398, §1.