Description & Fiduciary Responsibilities
Concept
Upon appointment to the Board of Trustees, the individual board members have a fiduciary responsibility to the statewide retirement System. Statutory responsibilities, as delineated within Iowa Code Chapter 411, include the following:
- The Board is responsible for the overall operation and administration of the System, and for the establishment of rules which govern the administration of the System.
- The Board is to establish the System’s budget and to oversee its execution.
- The Board is to keep a record of all its proceedings and submit an annual report to the Governor, the General Assembly, and the City Council of each of the participating cities.
- The Board is to engage necessary actuarial and other services and may employ a staff as necessary to assist it in carrying out its responsibilities.
- The Board is responsible for ensuring that proper determinations are made on applications for benefits and that monthly benefits are paid in a timely and accurate manner.
- The Board is responsible for establishing the rate of interest to be paid on withdrawn contributions.
- The Board is responsible for the management of the fund, and the establishment of an investment policy on an annual basis. Funds are to be invested in accordance with that policy.
- The Board is to provide for the maintenance of actuarial data for the purpose of valuing the fund and of assessing the experience of the System. The Board is to determine a rate of contribution for the cities based upon an annual actuarial valuation and is to certify the rate to the proper officials of the cities.
To maintain the System’s status as a “qualified plan,” the Trustees must act in accordance with the “exclusive benefit” provision of the Internal Revenue Code which stipulates that decisions of the System must be made in the best interest of the general membership.
Description
The programs of the System, its organization, and its authority to act are each provided for by the Code of Iowa. The specific authority for the System’s activities is found in Chapter 411, as amended by Acts of the 1992 General Assembly.
The authority for the existence and operation of the statewide System is found in Section 411.35. This section also provided for the termination of the local fire and police retirement systems as of December 31, 1991.
Section 411.36 establishes a Board of Trustees which is responsible for the operation and administration of the statewide System and which, under 411.37, had responsibility for accomplishing the transition to the statewide System from the terminated local systems.
Section 411.36 establishes a Board of Trustees which is responsible for the operation and administration of the statewide System and which, under 411.37, had responsibility for accomplishing the transition to the statewide System from the terminated local systems.
The administrative activities of the System are provided for by Section 411.5, to include specific authorization for each of the following:
- Actuarial Services
- Medical Board
- Legal Services
- Organization and Staff
Chapter 411.6
Various sections of Chapter 411 address the benefit programs of the System, but 411.6 provides the primary description of the differing benefits for which the members and beneficiaries are eligible.
- Service retirement benefit
- Allowance on service retirement
- Ordinary disability benefit
- Allowance on ordinary disability benefit
- Accidental disability benefit
- Retirement after accident
- Re-examination of beneficiaries retired on account of disability
- Ordinary death benefit
- Accidental death benefit
- Pensions offset by compensation benefits
- Pension to spouse and children of deceased pensioned members
- Annual re-adjustment of pensions
- Re-marriage of surviving spouse
- Optional retirement benefits
- Rollover of members’ accounts
- Line of Duty Death Benefits