Section 23617 - Payment of service increment in addition to pension; conditionsIn every city of the second class, in addition to the pension which is authorized by law, every contributor who shall have otherwise become entitled to the pension and who has reached the age of fifty years, shall also be entitled to the payment of a service increment in accordance with and subject to the conditions hereinafter set forth:
(1) Service increment shall be the sum obtained by computing the number of whole years after the completion of twenty years' service while a contributor has been employed by the bureau of fire or the city, and paid out of the city treasury, and multiplying the number of years so computed by an amount equal to ten dollars for each month of service beyond twenty years of service. This sum shall be divided by twelve to arrive at the monthly increment payment. In computing the service increment, no employment, after the contributor has reached the age of sixty-five years shall be included.(2) Each contributor, from and after the effective date of this amendment, shall pay into the retirement fund as the contribution to the increment fund, a monthly sum in addition to his or her retirement contribution which shall be equal to one-half of one per centum of his or her wages. Such payment shall not exceed the sum of one dollar per month. The service increment contribution shall not be paid after a contributor has reached the age of sixty-five years.(3) Persons who are contributors on the effective date of this amendment who have already reached the age of sixty-five years shall have his or her service increment computed on the years of employment prior to the date of reaching his or her sixty-fifth birthday. Such person, however, shall be entitled to the increment only by paying in the one dollar per month contribution for the number of months his or her service exceeds twenty years, but such contribution shall not exceed a total of one hundred dollars.(4) Service increment contributions shall be paid at the same time and in the same manner as pension contributions, and may be withdrawn in full without interest by persons who leave the employment of the bureau of fire subject to the same conditions by which pension contributions may be withdrawn, or by persons who retire before becoming entitled to any service increment. When any person is re-employed by the bureau of fire after withdrawal of pension contributions, his or her prior service shall not be used in the computation of service increment unless the amount of such contributions be repaid into the pension fund subject to the same conditions by which pension fund withdrawals are permitted to be repaid.(5) All employes of the bureau of fire who are now contributors to the pension fund, and all persons who are employed by the bureau of fire after the effective date of this amendment, who are required to become contributors to the pension fund, shall be subject to the provisions of this section.1933, May 25, P.L. 1050, § 12.4, added 1955, Oct. 21, P.L. 717, § 1. Amended 1956, April 6, P.L. (1955) 1439, § 1; 1961, May 23, P.L. 213, No. 112, § 1; 1965, Nov. 9, P.L. 679, § 8; 1974, Oct. 10, P.L. 730, No. 247, § 9, imd. effective.