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353G.08 RETIREMENT PLAN FUNDING; DISBURSEMENTS.

(a) Annually, the executive director shall determine the funding requirements of each account in the voluntary statewide lump-sum volunteer firefighter retirement plan on or before August 1. The funding requirements as directed under this section, must be determined using a mathematical procedure developed and certified as accurate by an approved actuary retained by the Public Employees Retirement Association and based on present value factors using a six percent interest rate, without any decrement assumptions. The funding requirements must be certified to the entity or entities associated with the fire department whose active firefighters are covered by the retirement plan.

(b) The overall funding balance of each account for the current calendar year must be determined in the following manner:

(1) The total accrued liability for all active and deferred members of the account as of December 31 of the current year must be calculated based on the good time service credit of active and deferred members as of that date.

(2) The total present assets of the account projected to December 31 of the current year, including receipts by and disbursements from the account anticipated to occur on or before December 31, must be calculated. To the extent possible, the market value of assets must be utilized in making this calculation.

(3) The amount of the total present assets calculated under clause (2) must be subtracted from the amount of the total accrued liability calculated under clause (1). If the amount of total present assets exceeds the amount of the total accrued liability, then the account is considered to have a surplus over full funding. If the amount of the total present assets is less than the amount of the total accrued liability, then the account is considered to have a deficit from full funding. If the amount of total present assets is equal to the amount of the total accrued liability, then the special fund is considered to be fully funded.

(c) The financial requirements of each account for the following calendar year must be determined in the following manner:

(1) The total accrued liability for all active and deferred members of the account as of December 31 of the calendar year next following the current calendar year must be calculated based on the good time service used in the calculation under paragraph (b), clause (1), increased by one year.

(2) The increase in the total accrued liability of the account for the following calendar year over the total accrued liability of the account for the current year must be calculated.

(3) The amount of anticipated future administrative expenses of the account must be calculated by multiplying the dollar amount of the administrative expenses for the most recent prior calendar year by the factor of 1.035.

(4) If the account is fully funded, the financial requirement of the account for the following calendar year is the total of the amounts calculated under clauses (2) and (3).

(5) If the account has a deficit from full funding, the financial requirement of the account for the following calendar year is the total of the amounts calculated under clauses (2) and (3) plus an amount equal to one-tenth of the amount of the deficit from full funding of the account.

(6) If the account has a surplus over full funding, the financial requirement of the account for the following calendar year is the financial requirement of the account calculated as though the account was fully funded under clause (4) and, if the account has also had a surplus over full funding during the prior two years, additionally reduced by an amount equal to one-tenth of the amount of the surplus over full funding of the account.

(d) The required contribution of the entity or entities associated with the fire department whose active firefighters are covered by the retirement plan is the annual financial requirements of the account of the retirement plan under paragraph (c) reduced by the amount of any fire state aid payable under sections 69.011 to 69.051 reasonably anticipated to be received by the retirement plan attributable to the entity or entities during the following calendar year, and an amount of interest on the assets projected to be received during the following calendar year calculated at the rate of six percent per annum. The required contribution must be allocated between the entities if more than one entity is involved. A reasonable amount of anticipated fire state aid is an amount that does not exceed the fire state aid actually received in the prior year multiplied by the factor 1.035.

(e) The required contribution calculated in paragraph (d) must be paid to the retirement plan on or before December 31 of the year for which it was calculated. If the contribution is not received by the retirement plan by December 31, it is payable with interest at an annual compound rate of six percent from the date due until the date payment is received by the retirement plan. If the entity does not pay the full amount of the required contribution, the executive director shall collect the unpaid amount under section 353.28, subdivision 6.

(f) The assets of the retirement fund may only be disbursed for:

(1) the administrative expenses of the retirement plan;

(2) the investment expenses of the retirement fund;

(3) the service pensions payable under section 353G.10, 353G.11, 353G.14, or 353G.15; and

(4) the survivor benefits payable under section 353G.12.

Official Publication of the State of Minnesota
Revisor of Statutes