Chap. 303.—An ACT to provide for the establishment, maintenance and admin-
istration of a system of pensions and retirements for the benefit of the per-
sonnel of police departments of any county adjoining a county having a popu-
lation greater than a certain number of inhabitants a square mile. [H 314]

Approved March 29, 1944

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. Section 1. The governing body of any county in this State
adjoining any county having a population greater than one thousand 1n-
habitants a square mile and having a police department with full or part-
time paid members 1s empowered and authorized to create and establish
as hereinafter provided a board to be known as the “policemen’s pension
and retirement board” of the county, hereinafter referred to as the
“board”. The board when so created shall be a body corporate and
shall consist of .five members, one of whom shall be the treasurer of
the county, who shall also be the treasurer of the board, two of whom
shall be elected by the majority vote of the members of the police depart-
ment, one for a term of four years and one for a term of two years, their
successors to be elected for terms of four years each, and two of whom
shall be appointed by the governing body of the county for terms of
four years each, their successors to be appointed for terms of four years
each.

When any such board is so created and constituted, it shall at its
first meeting annually thereafter elect one member as president and
one as secretary, and it may elect one as vice-president.

Section 2. The general powers, authority and duties of any such
policemen’s pension and retirement board shall be as follows: (1) To
adopt by-laws, rules and regulations lawful to be made which it deems
necessary for the proper conduct of its affairs; (2) To conduct hear-
ings, make investigations and determine the amount of awards or pen-
sions to be paid any policeman, or his dependents: (3) To provide for
such clerical, legal, medical and other services as it deems necessary or
proper, and provide for the payment of suitable compensation for such
services; (4) To provide for and require deductions from the salaries of
active and paid members of the police department, and to cause the
amounts deducted to be paid into its treasury as hereinafter specified for
its use in the administration of its affairs; (5) To draw warrants, signed
in its name and countersigned by its president, on its treasurer for the
payment of pensions and benefits hereunder and of costs and expenses
of administration.

Section 3. The treasurer of the board shall be the custodian of all
of its funds and securities and he shall give bond, payable to the board,
in such amount and with such surety as the board requires, conditioned
for the faithful performance of his duties and the proper accounting for
all funds and securities coming into his hands, the cost of the bond to
be paid out of the funds of the board. He shall disburse the funds on
warrants drawn by the board, signed and countersigned as provided
herein.
Section 4. The time of service of any member of the police depart-
ment, prior to the passage of this act, shall be placed to his credit on his
service record, but the amount of pension to be paid him under the
provisions of this act shall be that proportion of the amounts provided
for by this act which the time of his service under the provisions of
this act at the time of his retirement or disability bears to twenty-five
years.

Section 5. In case of the death of any member of the police depart-
ment before retirement leaving a widow or a child or children under
sixteen years of age, the widow shall be entitled to receive relief from
the pension fund in an amount not exceeding sixty dollars a month
and each child under the age of sixteen years in an amount not exceeding
ten dollars a month; provided that upon the remarriage of any widow
granted relief under the provisions of this section the relief shall cease
and the relief granted to or for any child or children tnder the age of
sixteen years shall cease upon reaching that age.

Section 6. Any member of the police department who has com-
pleted twenty-five years of service in the department or as a police officer
of the county and who has attained the age of fifty-five years shall be
eligible to retirement and to receive the pension and benefits herein speci-
fied. Any member, from and after the time he so retires, shall receive
a pension hereunder not to exceed fifty per centum of his annual salary
computed on the basis of his average salary for the last three years of
his service. |

Section 7. Any member disabled on account of any natural cause or
causes not originating in the performance of his official duties who
becomes a disability beneficiary at any time during his first five years of
service shall be entitled to receive a sum not exceeding ten per centum
of his salary during the disability and an additional amount not exceed-
ing two per centum of his salary for each additional year of service over
ive years, but at no time shall the amount received exceed one-half of his
salary.

Section 8. If any member becomes disabled as a result of his activi-
ties in the discharge of his official duties he shall receive as pension
and benefits during the disability and until such time as he would have
become eligible to retirement a sum not exceeding fifty per centum of
the salary he would have received had he remained uninjured and con-
tinued in the performance of his duties. Upon reaching the retirement
age he shall be retired on the age and service pension provided for in
section six of this act.

Section 9. Should any such policeman die while in active service,
leaving no dependents, his salary deductions shall remain in the police-
men’s pension and retirement fund. Should any such policeman be
separated from the service before becoming eligible for pension no salary
deductions shall be returnable to him, but the deductions shall be for-
feited by him and shall remain in the policemen’s pension and retirement

und.

Section 10. For the purpose of raising funds for the payment of
pensions and benefits and the costs and expenses of administering the
affairs of the board there shall be levied monthly, and deducted from
the salaries of the policemen, three per centum of the amounts of their
salaries and all such amounts so levied and deducted shall be paid into the
treasury of the board.

Section 11. Any and all cash assets and funds on hand at any time
not necessary for immediate payment of pensions or benefits hereunder
shall be invested in bonds of the United States, of the State of Virginia
or of any political subdivision thereof, or invested in bonds and negotiable
notes directly secured by first lien on improved real estate or farm prop-
erty in Virginia, the amount of all outstanding bonds or notes so secured
not to exceed sixty per centum of the fair market value of the real estate
and any improvements thereon at the time of making the investments,
as ascertained by an appraisal thereof made by two competent, reputable
and disinterested persons.

Any and all funds raised by any policemen’s pension and retirement
board created under this act for the payment of pensions and benefits
shall be paid over to the treasurer of the board and deposited by him
to its credit and paid out by him as hereinbefore provided.

Section 12. At any time after the effective date of this act any such
county having a police department whose members are paid full or
part-time salaries may come under the provisions of this act and estab-
lish such a policemen’s pension and retirement board if and when the
governing body of the county so orders by a resolution approved by a
majority of all members by a record yea and nay vote. Upon the adop-
tion of such a resolution a policemen’s pension and retirement board may
be constituted and organized as hereinbefore provided, and when so
constituted and organized shall be vested with all the power and author-
ity and charged with all the duties herein prescribed.

Section 13. An appeal of right from the action of the board on
any matter in which the board is given discretionary power shall lie to
the circuit court of the county within whose jurisdiction the board is.

Section 14. The provisions of this act shall not apply to any county
having in operation on the date this act becomes effective any system of
pensions or retirement benefits for members of its police department
unless the governing body of the county elects to come under the pro-
visions of this act.

Section 15. If any section, clause or phrase of this act is for any
reason held unconstitutional the holding shall not affect the validity of
the remaining portions thereof. ,