16-1007. Retiring officer; annuity options; how determined; lump-sum payment option.

(1) At any time before the retirement date, the retiring police officer may elect to receive at his or her retirement date a pension benefit either in the form of a straight life annuity or any optional form of annuity benefit established by the retirement committee and provided under a purchased annuity contract. The optional annuity benefit shall be specified in the funding medium for the retirement system and shall include a straight life annuity with a guarantee of at least sixty monthly payments or an annuity payable for the life of the retiring police officer and, after the death of the retiree, monthly payments, as elected by the retiring police officer, of either one hundred percent, seventy-five percent, or fifty percent of the amount of annuity payable to the retiring police officer during his or her life, to the beneficiary selected by the retiring police officer at the time of the original application for an annuity. The optional benefit forms for the retirement system shall include a single lump-sum payment of the police officer's retirement value. The retiring police officer may further elect to defer the date of the first annuity payment or lump-sum payment to the first day of any specified month prior to age seventy. If the retiring police officer elects to receive his or her pension benefit in the form of an annuity, the amount of annuity benefit shall be the amount paid by the annuity contract purchased or otherwise provided by his or her retirement value as of the date of the first payment. Any such annuity contract purchased by the retirement system may be distributed to the police officer and, upon such distribution, all obligations of the retirement system to pay retirement, death, or disability benefits to the police officer and his or her beneficiaries shall terminate, without exception.

(2)(a) For all officers employed on January 1, 1984, and continuously employed by the city from such date through the date of their retirement, the amount of the pension benefit, when determined on the straight life annuity basis, shall not be less than the following amounts:

(i) If retirement occurs following age sixty and with twenty-five years of service with the city, fifty percent of regular pay; or

(ii) If retirement occurs following age fifty-five but before age sixty and with twenty-five years of service with the city, forty percent of regular pay.

(b) A police officer entitled to a minimum pension benefit under this subsection may elect to receive such pension benefit in any form permitted by subsection (1) of this section, including a single lump-sum payment. If the minimum pension benefit is paid in a form other than a straight life annuity, such benefit shall be the actuarial equivalent of the straight life annuity that would otherwise be paid to the officer pursuant to this subsection.

(c) If the police officer chooses the single lump-sum payment option, the officer can request that the actuarial equivalent be equal to the average of the cost of three annuity contracts based on products available for purchase in Nebraska. Of the three annuity contracts used for comparison, one shall be chosen by the police officer, one shall be chosen by the retirement committee, and one shall be chosen by the city. The annuity contracts used for comparison shall all use the same type of sex-neutral basis benefit calculation.

(3) If the retirement value of an officer entitled to a minimum pension benefit under subsection (2) of this section is not sufficient at the time of the first payment to purchase or provide the required pension benefit, the city shall transfer such funds as may be necessary to the employer account of the police officer so that the retirement value of such officer is sufficient to purchase or provide for the required pension benefit.

(4) Any retiring police officer whose pension benefit is less than twenty-five dollars per month on the straight life annuity option shall be paid a lump-sum settlement equal to the retirement value and shall not be entitled to elect to receive annuity benefits.

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