Session Laws

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

SECTION 1. Notwithstanding the provisions of chapter thirty-two of the General Laws or of any general or special law to the contrary, the Minuteman Regional Vocational Technical School District Contributory Retirement Board shall establish and implement a retirement incentive program for nonteaching employees of the Minuteman Regional Vocational Technical School district, hereinafter referred to as the retirement incentive program, in accordance with the provisions of this act; provided, that, in order to be deemed eligible by said board for any of the benefit options under the retirement incentive program, an employee (i) shall be an active employee of the Minuteman Regional Vocational Technical School District on January One, Nineteen Hundred and Ninety-Four; (ii) shall be classified in Group 1, Group 2 or Group 4 of said retirement system in accordance with the provisions of paragraph (g) of subdivision (2) of section three of said chapter thirty-two, (iii) shall be eligible to receive a superannuation retirement allowance in accordance with the provisions of subdivision (1) of section five of said chapter thirty-two or of subdivision (1) of section ten of said chapter thirty-two upon the date of the written application with said board (iv) shall have filed such written application with said board within twenty days of the effective date of this act to retire for superannuation as of the date which shall be specified in such application; provided, however, that said date for retirement shall be no later than forty-five days after the effective date of this act. Said program shall be administered by the Minuteman Regional Vocational Technical School District Contributory Retirement System, which shall also promulgate regulations to implement the provisions of said program.

Notwithstanding any provisions of said chapter thirty-two to the contrary, the normal yearly amount of the retirement allowance for an eligible employee who is employed by the Minuteman Regional School District and who has paid the full amount of regular deductions on the total amount of regular compensation as determined under paragraph (a) of subdivision (2) of section five of said chapter thirty-two, shall be based on the average annual rate of regular compensation as determined under said paragraph (a) and shall be computed according to the table contained in said paragraph (a) based on the age of such member and his number of years and full months of creditable service at the time of his retirement increased by up to five years of age or up to five years of creditable service or by a combination of additional years of age and service the sum of which shall not be greater than five; provided however that the School Committee of the Minuteman Regional Vocational Technical School District may limit the amount of additional credit for service or age or a combination of service or age offered and the number of employees for whom it will approve a retirement calculated under the provisions of this section; provided, further, that if participation is limited, the retirement of employees with greater creditable service shall be approved before approval is given to employees with lesser creditable service.

For the purpose of this section words shall have the same meanings as in Chapter thirty-two of the General Laws, unless otherwise expressly provided or unless the context clearly requires otherwise. An employee who retires and receives an additional benefit in accordance with the provisions of this section shall be deemed to be retired for superannuation under the provisions of said chapter thirty-two and shall be so subject to any and all provisions of said chapter thirty-two.

The total normal yearly amount of the retirement allowance, as determined in accordance with the provisions of section five of said chapter thirty-two, of any employee who retires and receives an additional benefit under the retirement incentive program in accordance with the provisions of this section shall not exceed four-fifths of the average annual rate of the employee's regular compensation received during any period of three consecutive years of creditable service for which the rate of compensation with the highest or of the average annual rate of the employee's regular compensation received during the periods, whether or not consecutive, constituting the employee's last three years of creditable service preceding retirement, whichever is greater.

The commissioner of the public employee retirement administration shall analyze, study, and valuate the costs and the actuarial liabilities attributable to the additional benefits payable in accordance with the provisions of this section of the retirement incentive program established by this section for the Minuteman Regional Vocational Technical School District Retirement System; provided, that said commissioner shall file a report in writing of his findings to the board on or before December Thirty-First, Nineteen Hundred and Ninety-Four, and shall send a copy thereof to the School Committee Chairman of the Minuteman Regional Vocational Technical School District; provided further, that said report shall be filed with the joint committee on public service on or before December Thirty-First, Nineteen Hundred and Ninety-Four. The Minuteman Regional Vocational Technical School District Retirement Board shall prepare a funding schedule which shall reflect the costs and the actuarial liabilities attributable to the additional benefits payable under the retirement incentive program in accordance with the provisions of this section and said schedule shall be designed to reduce the Minuteman Regional Vocational Technical School District Retirement System's additional pension liability attributable to such costs and liabilities to zero on or before June Thirtieth, Two Thousand and Ten; provided, that in preparing such schedule, the board shall consider the analysis of the commission of public employee retirement administration filed in accordance with the provisions of this section; and provided further, that said board shall triennially update such schedule until said June Thirtieth, Two Thousand and Ten. Said board shall file such funding schedule with the joint committee on public service and the house and senate committees on ways and means on or before March First, Nineteen Hundred and Ninety-Five, and shall file updates thereto triennially on or before March First of each year. In each of the fiscal years until the actuarial liability determined under this section shall be reduced to zero, it shall be deemed an obligation of the Minuteman Regional Vocational Technical School District to fund such liability and there shall be appropriated to the Minuteman Regional Vocational Technical School District pension reserve fund in each such fiscal year the amount required by the funding schedule and the updates thereto.

SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon its passage.