A. There is established in the state treasury the "magistrate retirement fund". The fund is comprised of money received from docket fees of magistrate courts, employer and member contributions and any investment earnings on fees and contributions. The board is the trustee of the fund and shall administer and invest the fund. Investment of the fund shall be conducted pursuant to the provisions of the Public Employees Retirement Act [Chapter 10, Article 11 NMSA 1978]. The provisions of the Magistrate Retirement Act shall be administered by the board. The board is authorized to promulgate rules. Expenses related to the investment of the fund and administration of the Magistrate Retirement Act shall be paid from the fund.

B. For purposes of this section, the accounting funds shall be known as the "member contribution fund", "employer's accumulation fund", "retirement reserve fund" and "income fund". The maintenance of separate accounting funds shall not require the actual segregation of the assets of the fund.

C. The accounting funds provided for in this section are trust funds and shall be used only for the purposes provided for in the Magistrate Retirement Act.

D. The member contribution fund is the accounting fund in which shall be accumulated contributions of members and from which shall be made refunds and transfers of accumulated member contributions as provided in the Magistrate Retirement Act. The member's court shall cause member contributions to be deducted from the salary of the member and shall remit the deducted member contributions to the association in accordance with procedures and schedules established by the association. The association may assess an interest charge and a penalty charge on any late remittance. Each member shall be deemed to consent and agree to the deductions made and provided for in this section. Contributions by members shall be credited to the members' individual accounts in the member contribution fund. A member's accumulated member contributions shall be transferred to the retirement reserve fund when a pension becomes payable.

E. The employer's accumulation fund is the accounting fund in which shall be accumulated the contributions paid by the state through the administrative office of the courts. The state, through the administrative office of the courts, shall remit its contributions to the association in accordance with procedures and schedules established by the association. The board may assess an interest charge and a penalty charge on any late remittance.

F. The retirement reserve fund is the accounting fund from which shall be paid all pensions to retired members and survivor beneficiaries and all residual refunds to refund beneficiaries of retired members and survivor beneficiaries.

G. Each year, following receipt of the report of the annual actuarial valuation, the excess, if any, of the reported actuarial present value of pensions being paid and likely to be paid to retired members and survivor beneficiaries and residual refunds likely to be paid to refund beneficiaries of retired members and survivor beneficiaries over the balance in the retirement reserve fund shall be transferred to the retirement reserve fund from the employer's accumulation fund.

H. The income fund is the accounting fund to which shall be credited all interest, dividends, rents and other income from investments of the fund, all gifts and bequests, all unclaimed member contributions and all other money the disposition of which is not specifically provided for in the Magistrate Retirement Act. Expenses related to the administration of the Magistrate Retirement Act shall be paid for from the income fund.

I. The association shall at least annually distribute all or a portion of the balance in the income fund to the member contribution fund, the retirement reserve fund and the employer's accumulation fund. Distribution rates shall be determined by the board and may vary for the respective accounting funds.

History: Laws 1992, ch. 118, § 3; 1995, ch. 115, § 11; 2003, ch. 81, § 5.

The 2003 amendment, effective July 1, 2003, in Subsection A deleted "and metropolitan" following "fees of magistrate" near the beginning and deleted "and regulations" following "promulgate rules" near the end.

The 1995 amendment, effective June 16, 1995, substituted "member" for "employee" in the second sentence in Subsection A; deleted the former last two sentences in Subsection D, relating to death of a member; and made a minor stylistic change in Subsection D.