Title 19, Title 19

(1) The board may cancel a member's disability benefit if: (a) the board determines, as provided in 19-17-604, that the member is no longer disabled; or (b) the member refuses to submit to a medical examination under 19-17-604. (2) The cancellation of a disability benefit under t…

The disability retirement benefit payable pursuant to this part must commence on the first day of the month following the member's termination from service but may not commence prior to the date of the board's decision regarding any disputed credited years of service pursuant to …

Unless the context requires otherwise, the following definitions apply in this chapter: (1) "Association" means the fire department relief association provided for in 19-18-102. (2) "Disability and pension fund" or "fund" means the fund provided for in 19-18-105. (3) "Fire depart…

(1) The confirmed members of a fire department, as defined in 19-18-101, may form a local association to be known as the fire department relief association of the city or town of .... (naming the city or town). When an association is formed, it shall be incorporated under the law…

When an association is formed, the members shall elect officers by a majority vote. The officers shall be a president, a secretary, a treasurer, and five members to serve on the board of trustees. After the incorporation of an association, the officers shall be elected annually o…

A board of trustees of such fire department relief association shall be created to consist of seven members: (1) the president of the fire department relief association and the chief of the fire department, if an active member of the association, shall be ex officio members; and …

A fund to be known as the "disability and pension fund" of the fire department relief association of the city or town shall be established and maintained in every city or town where the fire department has formed or hereafter forms an association under 19-18-102.

Whenever a fire department relief association has been formed and the treasurer of the association has furnished the bond required by 19-18-202, the city treasurer shall pay to the treasurer of the association all money held by the city treasurer to the credit of the disability a…

A firefighter who has vested rights in a disability and pension fund maintains prior vested rights in the fund upon its transfer to a consolidated county municipality. A disability and pension fund established as required by law in a city or town of the county prior to the electi…

Except as otherwise provided in this chapter, the association and its board of trustees have full charge, management, and control of the disability and pension fund. The fund shall be kept separate from other funds and shall be held by the treasurer of the association.

The treasurer of an association may not enter upon the duties of office until the treasurer has given the association a sufficient bond of not less than 50% of the amount of the cash funds and securities of the association for the faithful performance of the treasurer's duties ac…

The fund may not be used for any purpose other than investment, as provided in part 4 of this chapter, and the payment of the following: (1) a service pension to a member who, by reason of service, has become entitled to a service pension; (2) a pension to a member who has become…

The board of trustees of the association shall review the accounts of the association at least every 6 months and shall report the condition of them at the next regular meeting of the association.

The secretary and treasurer of the association shall annually prepare a report of its receipts and expenditures for the preceding year in accordance with 2-7-503, showing to whom and for what purposes money has been expended. The secretary and treasurer shall file the report with…

(1) All of the financial books and accounts of the association are subject at all times to examination by the department of administration. (2) When a complaint is made to the department of administration that any money paid to the treasurer of the association has been or is bein…

Any person who fraudulently appropriates any money or other valuable thing belonging to the disability and pension fund of any fire department relief association or who takes part in or in any manner aids in any scheme or plan whereby the fund or association is defrauded out of a…

The cash in the disability and pension fund shall have the same protection as to depository securities furnished by banks as the other funds of the city or town.

The management of the fire department relief associations and of fire department relief associations of pure volunteer fire departments in first- and second-class cities is vested in the boards of trustees, except as provided in 19-18-402 and 19-18-403.

(1) Subject to the provisions of 19-18-403, when directed by a majority vote of the members of the association, the board of trustees may invest the surplus money in the fund or any part of the surplus money in: (a) time or saving deposits in a solvent bank, building and loan ass…

(1) Whenever the average yield on investments of public retirement funds under the board of investments exceeds by 1% in any fiscal year the average yield on investments of the fund made pursuant to 19-18-402, the surplus money in the fund must be remitted to the state treasurer …

The disability and pension fund consists of: (1) all bequests, fees, gifts, emoluments, donations, or money from other sources given or paid to the fund, except as otherwise designated by the donor; (2) a monthly contribution to the fund by each paid or part-paid member of the as…

A firefighter is entitled to a refund, in a lump sum and without interest, of all monthly contributions to the fund, within 60 days after permanent separation from service in the fire department, except for separation by reason of retirement, death, or disability that would other…

(1) Each disability and pension fund must be soundly funded at fiscal yearend. The fund is soundly funded if, subject to subsection (2): (a) assets in the fund are maintained at a level equal to at least three times but no more than five times the benefits paid by the fund in the…

(1) The fund must be reviewed on an annual basis to determine whether the fund is soundly funded pursuant to 19-18-503. (2) Based on the annual review: (a) if the fund contains an amount that is less than the minimum amount required to keep the fund soundly funded pursuant to 19-…

On or before April 1 annually, the clerk of every city having an organized fire department or a partly paid or volunteer department shall file with the commissioner of insurance of this state a certificate stating that fact. The certificate must include the system of water supply…

(1) After the end of the fiscal year, the state auditor shall issue and deliver the warrant described in this subsection to the treasurer of each city or town that has a fire department relief association entitled by law to receive payments. The warrant must be for the use and be…

The state treasurer shall, upon the presentation of a warrant drawn pursuant to this chapter, pay to the treasurer of the city or town, out of money in the state special revenue fund dedicated for that purpose, the amount of the warrant, which amount must be paid by the city trea…

Every fire department relief association may allow to its members benefits for the following causes, as provided by law: (1) a service pension to a member who, by reason of service, has become entitled to a service pension; (2) to a member who has become maimed or disabled for li…

(1) Each association shall pay, out of its disability and pension fund, a service pension to a member who elects to retire from active service after having completed 20 years or more of active duty and who has reached 50 years of age as a fully paid member of a paid or partly pai…

(1) A member of a fire department relief association is eligible to receive a partial service pension if the member: (a) has completed at least 10 years of active duty as a fully paid member of a fire department but has not both completed 20 years of service and reached 50 years …

(1) Each association shall pay a disability pension, out of its disability and pension fund, to each of its members who has become disabled by reason of sickness or injury. The pension must be equal to one-half of the sum last received by the member as a monthly compensation, exc…

(1) Each association shall pay, out of its disability and pension fund, a monthly pension to the surviving spouse or children of a deceased member of the association who on the date of death was an active member of the fire department in the city or town in which the association …

If a firefighter dies without leaving a surviving spouse or child, the association shall compute the total contributions made to the fund by the deceased member, and if the deceased member designated a beneficiary in writing to the association, the association shall issue a warra…

(1) All applications for relief shall be referred to the board of trustees. All claims shall be referred to the board of trustees for allowance or disallowance, and claimant shall have the right to appeal to the association in the event the claim be disallowed. (2) All claims sha…

Except for execution or withholding for the payment of child support or for the payment of spousal support for a spouse or former spouse who is the custodial parent of the child, payments made or to be made under this chapter are not subject to judgments, garnishment, execution, …

Unless the context requires a different meaning, any reference to "municipality", "city", or "town" in this chapter includes those jurisdictions which, prior to the effective date of a county-municipal consolidation, were incorporated municipalities, subsequent districts created …

(1) Each city or town that has a police retirement fund must have a board of trustees of the fund, except as provided in subsection (4). (2) A board of trustees existing under subsection (1) must consist of the mayor, clerk, and attorney of the city or town and two members from t…

(1) Except as provided in subsection (2), a police retirement fund may not be used for any purpose other than to make payments authorized by this chapter to members of the police department on the retired list and to make authorized investments. (2) When a city or town no longer …

(1) All money in the fund in excess of such an amount as is considered necessary from time to time to meet current payments to retired police officers shall be invested as hereinafter provided. All interest on money belonging to the fund from any source belongs to and must be pai…

The board of trustees of each police retirement fund shall on or before April 1 of each year report to the state auditor as to the financial condition of its fund.

(1) The city treasurer shall submit to the public employees' retirement board before September 1 of each odd-numbered year all information requested by the public employees' retirement board necessary to complete an actuarial valuation of the city's police retirement fund. The va…

Each city, other than one of the first or second class, that has a police retirement fund and that did not elect to join the statewide police reserve fund provided for in Chapter 335, Laws of 1974, and has not elected to participate in the plan under 19-9-207 shall deposit in its…

The treasurer of an incorporated city that has a police retirement fund shall retain from the monthly salary of each police officer on the active list a sum equal to 6% of the officer's monthly compensation for services as a police officer, exclusive of overtime and payments made…

A police officer whose service with the city has been discontinued by other than death or placement upon the retired list must be entitled to the return of the amounts paid to the fund through deductions from the officer's salary. If the officer has 10 years or more of service, t…

The following shall be placed in the police retirement fund and transmitted promptly to the board of trustees: (1) all money withheld from salaries of police officers for the violation of rules of the police department; (2) all bequests, gifts, or emoluments paid or given on acco…

(1) After the end of each fiscal year, the state auditor shall issue and deliver to the treasurer of each city and town in Montana that has a police department and that is not a participant in the municipal police officers' retirement system a warrant for an amount computed in th…