Chap. 161.—An ACT to provide for police and firemen’s pensions and benefits in
certain counties. [H B 264]
Approved March 11, 1946

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:
1. Section 1. Each county in this State having a population in
excess of one thousand per square mile according to the last United
States census and having a police department with full or part time paid
members and also employing one or more paid firemen, shall have the
authority to create and establish, in the manner hereinafter provided, a
board to be known as the “Pension and Retirement Board” of such
“County” and any such board when so created shall be a body corporate
and shall consist of five members. The county treasurer shall by virtue
of his office be a member of said board and shall be treasurer thereof.
The other four members shall be residents of said county, shall hold
membership thereon for terms of four years and shall be selected as fol-
lows: one member to be elected by the majority vote of the members of
such police department, one member by the majority vote of the said
firemen of said county and two members by the majority vote of the
county board or other governing body of such county.

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

The terms of office of the members, first elected, shall begin on the
thirtieth day after the date on which the governing body of such county
shall pass the resolution of approval as provided in section twelve hereof.

Section 2. The general powers, authority and duties of such board
shall be as follows:

(a) To adopt by-laws, rules and regulations lawful to be made
which it may deem necessary for the proper conduct of its affairs, in-
cluding the fixing of physical requirements and standards for such po-
licemen and firemen.

(b) To conduct hearings, make investigations and determine the
amount of awards or pensions or retirement benefits to be paid here-
under.

(c) To provide for such clerical, medical and other services as it

may deem necessary in the conduct of its duties and provide for the
payment of suitable compensation for such services. Such legal advice
or aid as may be necessary shall be rendered by the attorney for the
Commonwealth of said county.
- (d) To provide for and require deductions from the salaries of
active paid members of such police department and of such paid firemen
and to cause the amounts deducted to be paid into its treasury for its use
in carrying out the purposes of this act.

(e) To draw warrants signed in its name and countersigned by its
president or vice-president and secretary on its treasurer for the pay-
ment of pensions, retirement and benefits hereunder and the costs of
administration hereof.

Section 3. The treasurer of the board shall be the custodian of all
of its funds and securities and 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 of 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 deposit all monies in the
name of the board and disburse the same only on warrants signed and
countersigned as aforesaid.
Section 4. Should any policeman or fireman die as a result of in-
juries or disease incurred in the discharge of his official duties there shall
be paid to any beneficiary designated by him in writing with said board
the sum of ten thousand dollars and if no beneficiary be designated by him
or if the designated beneficiary predeceased him the said sum shall be
paid to his estate. The board shall have the right to make provision for
carrying the liability under this section in some reliable insurance com-
pany and to pay the necessary premiums out of any funds under its con-
trol.

Section 5. Any member of such police department who has com-
pleted twenty-five years of service in the department or as a paid police
officer or deputy sheriff of said county and who has attained the age of
fifty-five years, or who has a service record of twenty years and has
attained the age of sixty years, and any paid fireman of such county who
has completed twenty-five years service as such paid fireman and who
has attained the age of fifty-five years, or who has a service record of
twenty years and has attained the age of sixty years, shall be eligible
to retirement and to receive the pension and benefits herein specified.
In making allowances under this section the time of continuous service
of any member of such police department as a paid police officer or deputy
sheriff of said county, and of any paid fireman of said county, immediately
preceding the effective date of this act shall be placed to his credit on his
service record for the purposes of this act; and provided further that any
such policeman or fireman who resigned his position to enter the military
or naval service during World War II and returned to his duties within
six months after his discharge shall receive credit on his service record
for the time spent in the military or naval service. After retirement
such policeman or paid fireman shall receive a pension hereunder to be
arrived at as follows: the average annual salary he has earned during
the five years of his service for which he has received the highest pay
shall first be ascertained.

(a) The said average annual salary shall be divided by one hundred
and the result multiplied by the number of years on ‘his service record
prior to the effective date of this act.

(b) The said average annual salary shall then be divided by fifty
and the result multiplied by the number of years on his service record
after the effective date of this act. The amounts arrived at under sub-
sections a and b shall be added together and the total shall be hts annual
pension and shall be paid him in monthly installments.

Provided, however, that the amount to be paid monthly to anvone
receiving a pension hereunder shall be not less than the following:

For retirement at end of 20 years service $60.00

For retirement at end of 21 years service 6+4.00

For retirement at end of 22 years service 68.00

For retirement at end of 23 years service 72.00

For retirement at end of 24 years service 76.00

For retirement at end of 25 years service 80.00

Section 6. Should any such policeman or paid fireman become dis-
abled from causes not originating in the performance of his official duties
so as to incapacitate him for the performance of duty he shall receive a
minimum sum equal to ten per centum of his salary during such dis-
ability if he becomes a disability beneficiary at any time during his first
five years of service and an additional amount equal to two per cent of
his salary for each additional year of service over five years but at no
time shall said amount exceed one-half of his salary.

Section 7. If any such policeman or paid fireman shall become so
permanently disabled through injury received or diseasé contracted in
the line of duty as to incapacitate him for the performance of duty he shall
receive a pension and benefits during the disability and until such time as
he would have become eligible for retirement a sum not less than sixty-
six and two-thirds of the salary he would have received had he remained
uninjured and continued in the performance of his duties. Upon reach-
ing the retirement age he shall be retired on the age and service pension
provided above.

Section 8. (a) Prior to retirement——Should any such policeman
or paid fireman be separated from the service before becoming eligible
for pension or retirement the principal sum of his salary deductions shall
be paid to him; and should any such policeman or paid fireman die while
in active service, the principal sum of his salary deductions shall be paid
to any beneficiary designated by him and if no such beneficiary is desig-
nated such deductions shall be paid to his personal representative.

(b) After retirement—Upon the death of a member after his re-
tirement under the plan, any excess of the amount which would have
been payable under “a” of this section if death had occurred just prior
to his retirement, over the aggregate sum of any retirement benefits
paid to him before his death, shall be paid to the member’s designated
beneficiary or estate. |

Section 9. All policemen and firemen shall be retired at the age of
sixty years, provided however that on the written recommendation of the
county manager the board may grant extensions of the said age limit in
individual cases.

Section 10. For the purpose of raising funds for the payment of
such 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 such policemen and paid firemen three and one-half per
cent of the amount of their salaries and all such amounts so levied and
deducted shall be paid into the treasury of the board. The said board
shall have the right to receive contributions into its treasury and dis-
burse the same under this act.

In addition to the deductions aforesaid and as a supplement thereto
the county board or other governing body of said county shall have the
power to make provision in the county levy, for the adequate and proper
financing of the pensions, retirements and benefits under this act, the same
to be paid into the treasury of said Pension and Retirement Board in an-
nual installments and to be disbursed as hereinbefore provided.

Section 11. Any and all cash assets and funds on hand at any time
not necessary for immediate payment of pensions or benefits hereunder
may 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 appraised value of the real
estate and any improvements thereon at the time of making the invest-
ments as ascertained by an appraisal thereof made by two competent,
reputable and disinterested persons.

Any and all funds raised by any 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 may come under the provisions of this act and establish such
a 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 adoption of such a resolution
a pension and retirement board shall be constituted and organized as
hereinbefore provided, and when so constituted and organized shall be
vested with all the power and authority 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. Such
appeal shall be by petition filed with said court and a copy thereof served
on said board within thirty days from the time said action is taken and
shall be forthwith docketed and heard by the judge of said court without
the intervention of a jury.

Section 14. Wherever the word board is used herein without fur-
ther designation it shall be taken to mean the Pension and Retirement
Board.

Section 15. The provisions of this act shall not apply to any coun-
ty having in operation on the date this act became effective any system
of pensions or retirement benefits for members of its police and fire de-
partments unless the governing body of the county elects to come under
the provisions of this act. .

Section 16. 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.

Section 17. Benefits provided in this act shall be in addition to
any other benefits to which any beneficiary hereunder shall be entitled
from any other source.

2. An emergency exists and this act is in force from its passage.