AN ACT ESTABLISHING A TRUST TO ADMINISTER A LENGTH OF SERVICE AWARD PROGRAM FOR THE SWANSEA FIRE DEPARTMENT
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. (a) Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, the Swansea board of selectmen may establish a trust to administer a length of service award program for the volunteer firefighters of the Swansea fire department.
(b) The trust shall be established in such a manner as to ensure that the program constitutes a deferred compensation plan for federal taxation purposes.
(c) The trust may be funded through gifts, bequests and grants and through appropriations by the town meeting of the town of Swansea; provided, however, that once so appropriated, the town meeting may not reappropriate any such funds to another purpose; provided further, that any appropriations by the town meeting prior to the effective date of this act for the purpose of funding any length of service award program for volunteer firefighters shall be deemed to be an appropriation into the trust; and provided further, that individual volunteer firefighters shall not be eligible to make personal contributions to the trust.
(d) The Swansea board of selectmen, through the trust document, shall establish program eligibility criteria, procedures for designating beneficiaries, requirements for the allocation, vesting and distribution of benefits and standards for the forfeiture of benefits. The program shall not allow for the distribution of trust assets to anyone who has not been a volunteer firefighter of the town of Swansea or is not a designated beneficiary of the same or for any vesting criteria other than length of service.
(e) The trust assets shall be held in a separate account and the management and investment of the trust assets may be undertaken by the town treasurer or by a third-party administrator at the discretion of the Swansea board of selectmen. Any such third-party administrator shall be paid from the trust assets.
(f) There shall be no minimum funding obligation for this trust and any distributions of the assets of the trust shall be predicated upon available funding. The Swansea board of selectmen shall ensure that the trust is established and administered such that any shortfall in funding impacts all beneficiaries in proportion to their respective maximum benefits allocations under the program.
SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon its passage.
Approved, January 3, 2024.