2006 Minnesota Statutes

69.77 POLICE AND FIREFIGHTERS' RELIEF ASSOCIATION GUIDELINES ACT.
    Subdivision 1. Conditioned employer support for a relief association. (a) Notwithstanding
any law to the contrary, only if the municipality and the relief association comply with the
provisions of this section, a municipality may contribute public funds, including any applicable
police or fire state aid, or levy property taxes for the support of a police or firefighters' relief
association, enumerated in subdivision 1a, however organized, which provides retirement
coverage or pays a service pension to a retired police officer or firefighter or a retirement benefit
to a surviving dependent of either an active or retired police officer or firefighter, for the operation
and maintenance of the relief association.
(b) The commissioner shall not include in the apportionment of police or fire state aid to
the county auditor under section 69.021, subdivision 6, any municipality in which there exists
a local police or salaried firefighters' relief association as enumerated in subdivision 1a which
does not comply with the provisions of this section or the provisions of any applicable special
law relating to the funding or financing of the association and that municipality may not qualify
initially to receive, or be entitled subsequently to retain, state aid under sections 69.011 to 69.051
until the reason for the disqualification is remedied, whereupon the municipality, if otherwise
qualified, is entitled to again receive state aid for the year occurring immediately subsequent to
the year in which the disqualification is remedied.
(c) The state auditor and the commissioner shall determine if a municipality with a local
police or salaried firefighters' relief association fails to comply with the provisions of this section
or the funding or financing provisions of any applicable special law.
    Subd. 1a. Covered retirement plans. The provisions of this section apply to the following
local retirement plans:
(1) the Bloomington Firefighters Relief Association;
(2) the Fairmont Police Relief Association;
(3) the Minneapolis Firefighters Relief Association;
(4) the Minneapolis Police Relief Association; and
(5) the Virginia Fire Department Relief Association.
    Subd. 2. Inapplicable penalty. The penalty provided for in subdivision 1 does not apply to a
relief association enumerated in subdivision 1a if the requirements of subdivisions 3 to 10 are met.
    Subd. 2a.[Renumbered subd 3]
    Subd. 2b.[Renumbered subd 4]
    Subd. 2c.[Renumbered subd 5]
    Subd. 2d.[Renumbered subd 6]
    Subd. 2e.[Renumbered subd 7]
    Subd. 2f.[Renumbered subd 8]
    Subd. 2g.[Renumbered subd 9]
    Subd. 2h.[Renumbered subd 10]
    Subd. 2i.[Renumbered subd 11]
    Subd. 3.[Renumbered subd 13]
    Subd. 3. Minimum member contribution. Each active member of the relief association
must pay into the special fund of the association during a year of covered service, a contribution
for retirement coverage, including survivorship benefits, of not less than eight percent of the
maximum rate of salary upon which retirement coverage is credited and service pension and
retirement benefit amounts are determined. The member contributions must be made by payroll
deduction from the salary of the member by the municipality, and must be transmitted by the
municipality to the relief association as soon as practical. The relief association shall deposit the
member contribution to the credit of the special fund of the relief association. The member
contribution requirement specified in this subdivision does not apply to any members who are
volunteer firefighters.
    Subd. 4. Relief association financial requirements; minimum municipal obligation. (a)
The officers of the relief association shall determine the financial requirements of the relief
association and minimum obligation of the municipality for the following calendar year in
accordance with the requirements of this subdivision. The financial requirements of the relief
association and the minimum obligation of the municipality must be determined on or before the
submission date established by the municipality under subdivision 5.
(b) The financial requirements of the relief association for the following calendar year must
be based on the most recent actuarial valuation or survey of the special fund of the association if
more than one fund is maintained by the association, or of the association, if only one fund is
maintained, prepared in accordance with sections 356.215, subdivisions 4 to 15, and 356.216,
as required under subdivision 10. If an actuarial estimate is prepared by the actuary of the relief
association as part of obtaining a modification of the benefit plan of the relief association and the
modification is implemented, the actuarial estimate must be used in calculating the subsequent
financial requirements of the relief association.
(c) If the relief association has an unfunded actuarial accrued liability as reported in the most
recent actuarial valuation or survey, the total of the amounts calculated under clauses (1), (2),
and (3), constitute the financial requirements of the relief association for the following year.
If the relief association does not have an unfunded actuarial accrued liability as reported in
the most recent actuarial valuation or survey, the amount calculated under clauses (1) and (2)
constitute the financial requirements of the relief association for the following year. The financial
requirement elements are:
(1) the normal level cost requirement for the following year, expressed as a dollar amount,
which must be determined by applying the normal level cost of the relief association as reported in
the actuarial valuation or survey and expressed as a percentage of covered payroll to the estimated
covered payroll of the active membership of the relief association, including any projected change
in the active membership, for the following year;
(2) for the Bloomington Fire Department Relief Association, the Fairmont Police Relief
Association, and the Virginia Fire Department Relief Association, to the dollar amount of normal
cost determined under clause (1) must be added an amount equal to the dollar amount of the
administrative expenses of the special fund of the association if more than one fund is maintained
by the association, or of the association if only one fund is maintained, for the most recent year,
multiplied by the factor of 1.035. The administrative expenses are those authorized under section
69.80. No amount of administrative expenses under this clause are to be included in the financial
requirements of the Minneapolis Firefighters Relief Association or the Minneapolis Police Relief
Association; and
(3) to the dollar amount of normal cost and expenses determined under clauses (1) and (2)
must be added an amount equal to the level annual dollar amount which is sufficient to amortize
the unfunded actuarial accrued liability by December 31, 2010, the Fairmont Police Relief
Association, the Minneapolis Firefighters Relief Association, and the Virginia Fire Department
Relief Association, by the date determined under section 356.216, paragraph (a), clause (2), for the
Bloomington Fire Department Relief Association, and by December 31, 2020, for the Minneapolis
Police Relief Association, as determined from the actuarial valuation or survey of the fund, using
an interest assumption set at the applicable rate specified in section 356.215, subdivision 8. The
amortization date specified in this clause applies to all local police or salaried firefighters' relief
associations and that date supersedes any amortization date specified in any applicable special law.
(d) The minimum obligation of the municipality is an amount equal to the financial
requirements of the relief association reduced by the estimated amount of member contributions
from covered salary anticipated for the following calendar year and the estimated amounts
anticipated for the following calendar year from the applicable state aid program established
under sections 69.011 to 69.051 receivable by the relief association after any allocation made
under section 69.031, subdivision 5, paragraph (b), clause (2), or 423A.01, subdivision 2, clause
(6), from the local police and salaried firefighters' relief association amortization aid program
established under section 423A.02, subdivision 1, from the supplementary amortization state-aid
program established under section 423A.02, subdivision 1a, and from the additional amortization
state aid under section 423A.02, subdivision 1b.
    Subd. 5. Determination submission. The officers of the relief association shall submit
the determination of the financial requirements of the relief association and of the minimum
obligation of the municipality to the governing body on or before the date established by the
municipality, which may not be earlier than August 1 and may not be later than September
1 of each year. The governing body of the municipality must ascertain whether or not the
determinations were prepared in accordance with law.
    Subd. 6. Municipal payment. (a) The municipality shall provide for and shall pay, each
year, at least the amount of the minimum obligation of the municipality to the relief association.
(b) If there is any deficiency in the municipal payment to meet the minimum obligation of
the municipality as of the end of any calendar year, the amount of the deficiency must be added to
the minimum obligation of the municipality for the following year calculated under subdivision 4
and must include interest at the compound rate of six percent per annum from the date that
the municipality was required to make payment under this subdivision until the date that the
municipality actually makes the required payment.
    Subd. 7. Budget inclusion. (a) The municipality shall provide in the annual municipal
budget for at least the minimum obligation of the municipality calculated under subdivision 4.
(b) The municipality may levy taxes for the payment of the minimum obligation of the
municipality without any limitation as to rate or amount and irrespective of limitations imposed
by other provisions of law upon the rate or amount of taxation when the balance of the special
fund or any fund of the relief association has attained a specified minimum asset level. In addition,
any taxes levied under this section may not cause the amount or rate of other taxes levied in that
year or to be levied in a subsequent year by the municipality which are subject to a limitation
as to rate or amount to be reduced.
(c) If the municipality does not include the full amount of the minimum obligation of the
municipality in the levy that the municipality certified to the county auditor in any year, the
officers of the relief association shall certify the amount of any deficiency to the county auditor.
Upon verifying the existence of any deficiency in the levy certified by the municipality, the
county auditor shall spread a levy over the taxable property of the municipality in the amount of
the deficiency certified to by the officers of the relief association.
    Subd. 8. Accelerated amortization. Any sums of money paid by the municipality to the
relief association in excess of the minimum obligation of the municipality in any year must be
used to amortize any unfunded actuarial accrued liabilities of the relief association.
    Subd. 9. Local police and paid fire relief association investment authority. (a) The funds
of the association must be invested in securities that are authorized investments under section
356A.06, subdivision 6 or 7, whichever applies. Notwithstanding any provision of section
356A.06, subdivision 6 or 7 to the contrary, the special fund of the relief association may be
additionally invested in:
(1) open-end investment companies registered under the federal Investment Company Act of
1940, if the portfolio investments of the investment companies comply with the type of securities
authorized for investment under section 356A.06, subdivision 7, up to 75 percent of the market
value of the assets of the fund; and
(2) domestic government and corporate debt obligations that are not rated in the top four
quality categories by a nationally recognized rating agency, and comparable unrated securities
if the percentage of these assets does not exceed five percent of the total assets of the special
fund or 15 percent of the special fund's nonequity assets, whichever is less, the special fund's
participation is limited to 50 percent of a single offering of the debt obligations, and the special
fund's participation is limited to 25 percent of an issuer's debt obligations that are not rated in
the top four quality categories. Securities held by the association before June 2, 1989, that do
not meet the requirements of this subdivision may be retained after that date if they were proper
investments for the association on that date.
(b) The governing board of the association may select and appoint investment agencies to
act for and in its behalf or may certify special fund assets for investment by the State Board of
Investment under section 11A.17. The governing board of the association may certify general fund
assets of the relief association for investment by the State Board of Investment in fixed income
pools or in a separately managed account at the discretion of the State Board of Investment as
provided in section 11A.14. The governing board of the association may select and appoint a
qualified private firm to measure management performance and return on investment, and the firm
shall use the formula or formulas developed by the state board under section 11A.04, clause (11).
    Subd. 10. Actuarial valuation required. The association shall obtain an actuarial valuation
showing the condition of the special fund of the relief association under sections 356.215
and 356.216 and any applicable standards for actuarial work established by the Legislative
Commission on Pensions and Retirement. The actuarial valuation must be made as of December
31 of every year. A copy of the actuarial valuation must be filed with the Director of the
Legislative Reference Library, the governing body of the municipality in which the association is
organized, the executive director of the Legislative Commission on Pensions and Retirement,
and the state auditor, not later than July 1 of the following year.
    Subd. 11. Municipal approval of benefit changes required. Any amendment to the
bylaws or articles of incorporation of a relief association which increases or otherwise affects the
retirement coverage provided by or the service pensions or retirement benefits payable from any
police or firefighters' relief association enumerated in subdivision 1a is not effective until it is
ratified by the municipality in which the relief association is located. The officers of the relief
association shall not seek municipal ratification before obtaining either an updated actuarial
valuation including the proposed amendment or an estimate of the expected actuarial impact of
the proposed amendment prepared by the actuary of the relief association and submitting that
actuarial valuation or estimate to the clerk of the municipality.
    Subd. 12. Application of other laws to contribution rate. In the absence of any specific
provision to the contrary, no general or special law previously enacted may be construed as
reducing the levy amount or rate of contribution to a police or firefighters relief association to
which subdivision 1a applies, by a municipality or member of the association, which is required
as a condition for the use of public funds or the levy of taxes for the support of the association.
Each association, the municipality in which it is organized, and the officers of each, are authorized
to do all things required by this section as a condition for the use of public funds or the levy of
taxes for the support of the association.
    Subd. 13. Citation. This section may be cited as the "Police and Firefighters' Relief
Associations Guidelines Act of 1969."
History: 1969 c 223 s 1,2; 1971 c 11 s 1; 1971 c 329 s 1; 1973 c 129 s 6; 1973 c 772 s 2;
1974 c 152 s 10; 1975 c 271 s 6; 1977 c 429 s 63; 1978 c 563 s 1-3; 1980 c 341 s 1; 1980 c 607
art 14 s 27; art 15 s 2; 1981 c 208 s 7; 1981 c 224 s 23-26; 1982 c 460 s 5; 1982 c 578 art 3 s 2;
1983 c 71 s 1; 1983 c 289 s 114 subd 1; 1983 c 291 s 2; 1984 c 574 s 2; 1984 c 655 art 1 s 92;
1Sp1985 c 7 s 35; 1986 c 356 s 6; 1986 c 359 s 10; 1987 c 259 s 6,7; 1989 c 319 art 8 s 7; art 19 s
3; 1993 c 300 s 8; 1994 c 604 art 2 s 1; 2002 c 377 art 6 s 1; 2002 c 392 art 1 s 1; art 11 s 52;
1Sp2005 c 8 art 11 s 1; 2006 c 271 art 8 s 1