# Title 40 — Municipal Government

## Chapter 40-45 — Police Pensions in Cities

### § 40-45-01. Funding for police pension fund.

Any city having a population in excess of five thousand inhabitants according to the last
official federal census and having an organized and paid police department may provide funding
for the purpose of creating and maintaining a police pension fund from revenues derived from its
general fund levy authority.
Any city having established by law a police retirement system based upon actuarial tables
may provide funding for the police pension fund from revenues derived from its general fund
levy authority.
### § 40-45-02. Tax levy for pension fund if retirement system based upon actuarial tables

is maintained.
Repealed by S.L. 2015, ch. 439, § 104.
### § 40-45-03. Composition and membership.

The governing body of the city may adopt ordinances relating to the composition of and
membership in police pension systems subject to the provisions of this chapter.
### § 40-45-04. Acceptance of money, property, and rewards by the board - Limitations.

The board of trustees may take by gift, grant, devise, or bequest any money or real or
personal property or other thing of value for the benefit of the police pension fund. All rewards in
moneys, fees, gifts, or emoluments of every kind or nature that may be paid or given to any
police department or to any member thereof, except when allowed to be retained or given to
endow a medal or other permanent or competitive reward on account of extraordinary services
rendered by the department or any member thereof, and all fines and penalties imposed upon
members, shall be paid into and shall become a part of the pension fund.
### § 40-45-05. Police pension fund - How established.

All moneys derived from taxes levied to create a police pension fund, all moneys received
as membership fees and dues, and all moneys received from grants, donations, legacies, and
devises for the benefit of such fund shall constitute a fund to be known and designated as the
police pension fund.
### § 40-45-06. Investment of surplus funds - Limitations.

At the end of the fiscal year, the board of trustees may invest any surplus left in the police
pension fund, but no part of the moneys realized from any tax levy shall be used for any
purpose other than the payment of pensions. Such surplus funds may be invested in
interest-bearing bonds of the United States or the state of North Dakota, or bonds or warrants of
any county, township, or municipal corporation of this state which constitute the general
obligations or contingent general obligations of the issuing tax authority, or investments with any
federally insured bank or savings and loan association. All securities shall be deposited with the
treasurer of the board for safekeeping. The board may also invest all or part of such surplus
funds in other investments by selecting a funding agent or agents and establish an investment
agreement contract regarding such surplus funds. The contract shall authorize the funding
agent or agents to hold and invest such funds for the board and such funds shall be placed for
investment only with a firm or firms whose primary endeavor is money management, and only
after a trust agreement or contract has been executed. The board of trustees may pay the fees
and charges of said funding agent or agents from any surplus remaining in the police pension
fund in excess of the moneys realized from any tax levy. The board of trustees may use a
portion of the surplus left in the police pension fund in excess of moneys realized from any tax
levy to pay the cost of actuarial studies of said pension system.

### § 40-45-07. Tax levy may be discontinued when fund sufficient.

Whenever a city which has established a police pension fund under the provisions of this
chapter has a sufficient balance in such fund to meet any proper and legitimate charges that
may be made against it, such city shall not be required to levy further taxes for the fund.
### § 40-45-08. Membership fees and assessments.

Every member of the police department shall pay to the treasurer of the pension fund a
membership fee to be fixed by the board of trustees in an amount not exceeding twenty-five
dollars. Each member shall be assessed and required to pay annually an amount not less than
three percent or more than five percent per annum as determined by the governing body of the
municipality upon the amount of the annual salary paid to the member. Such assessment shall
be deducted and retained in equal monthly installments out of such salary. Assessments shall
be made of all members for a minimum period of fifteen years for partial retirement and for
twenty years and for such additional years as may be determined by the governing body for full
retirement, as provided by section 40-45-09.
### § 40-45-09. Who may be retired on pension - Amount paid to retiring member - Retiring

member not paid.
Any member of the police department, including officers and police matrons, who shall have
served twenty years or more in the department and shall have reached the age of sixty years, or
who, while a member of such department shall suffer permanent mental or physical disability so
that the person is unable to discharge the person's duties, shall be entitled to be retired. Upon
retirement, the person may be paid out of the pension fund of the department a monthly pension
equal to sixty percent of the average monthly salary received during the highest paid
consecutive thirty-six-month period of the person's employment in the department. If any
member shall have served twenty years in the department but shall not have reached the age of
sixty years, the person shall be entitled to retirement, but no pension shall be paid while the
person lives until the person reaches the age of sixty years, except as provided in section
### § 40-45-11. Any member who has served one hundred eighty months but less than two hundred

forty months, has contributed voluntarily to the police pension fund, and who voluntarily and
while in good standing as a member has left employment of such city, shall be entitled to elect
retirement instead of refund at a pension equal to the proportion of a full pension which the total
number of months employed by the city bears to two hundred forty months, but no pension shall
be paid while the person lives until the person reaches the age of sixty years. Notwithstanding
the provisions of this section, upon the approval of the governing body of the municipality, and
at the discretion of the board of trustees if it shall find that the actuarial soundness of the fund
would not be materially impaired, any member otherwise qualifying in accordance with the
provisions of this section may retire if the person has reached the age of fifty-five years.
### § 40-45-10. Period of service spent in armed forces to be included as service in

department.
Any member of a police department who has resigned therefrom or who shall resign
therefrom, or who has been granted or shall be granted a leave of absence to serve in the
armed forces of the United States or armed forces reserve thereof, or who shall have been
selected for training under the selective service provisions of the laws of the United States and
has returned with an honorable discharge from, or other document showing honorable service
in, such service to the police department, shall have the period of such service included as part
of the person's period of service in the department.
### § 40-45-10.1. Purchase of legislative service credit.

A member of a police pension fund under this chapter may, prior to retirement, purchase for
inclusion in the period of service in the department the time during each legislative session
spent serving as a member of the legislative assembly while a member of the pension fund. The
member shall pay for this service an amount equal to the required member assessments and
employer contributions plus interest as established by the board of trustees. Service credit for

legislative sessions prior to July 1, 1985, must be purchased before January 1, 1986. Service
credit for each later legislative session must be purchased within one year after the adjournment
of that legislative session.
### § 40-45-11. Eligibility for retirement because of disability.

No member of the police department who shall become unable mentally or physically to
perform the person's duties, nor the person's dependents, shall be entitled to receive benefits
under this chapter because of such disability unless such member shall have been on active
duty with the department for a period of at least ten years prior to such disability unless such
mental or physical impairment was received in the line of duty and permanently disabled such
member. Provided, however, that any member of the department who shall have served
twenty-two years, retired, and subsequently suffered a permanent disability prior to attaining
age sixty, may, in the discretion of the pension board and providing that the same is actuarially
sound, be eligible for disability retirement. The question of disability shall be determined by the
board of trustees upon the concurring report of at least two out of three physicians designated
by the board of trustees to make a complete physical examination of the member.
### § 40-45-12. Assignment of retired members to light duties in police department.

The chief of the police department of the city may assign any member of the department,
retired or drawing a pension under the provisions of this chapter, to the performance of light
duties in such department.
### § 40-45-13. Payments to surviving spouse, children, and surviving parents upon death

of active or retired member.
Upon the death of any active or retired member of the police department of a city
maintaining a police pension fund under this chapter, leaving a surviving spouse or minor
children or dependent father or mother surviving the deceased member, there shall be paid out
of the fund subject to the restrictions contained in section 40-45-14, as follows:
1. To the surviving spouse, as long as the surviving spouse remains unmarried, a sum
not less than fifty dollars per month and not more than sixty percent of the deceased
spouse's police retirement benefits.
2. If there is no surviving spouse, or upon the death or remarriage of the surviving
spouse, then to the deceased member's dependent father or mother, if both survive, or
to either dependent parent if one survives, the sum of forty dollars per month.
3. To the guardian of each surviving child under eighteen years of age, a sum not less
than twenty-five dollars per month and not more than fifty dollars per month.
The aggregate of all such payments shall not exceed sixty percent of the average monthly
salary received during the highest paid consecutive thirty-six-month period of the deceased
member's employment prior to the time of the deceased member's death or retirement.
### § 40-45-14. Definitions for benefit purposes.

The benefits provided for in section 40-45-13 shall be subject to the following definitions:
1. "Child" or "children" means only the surviving issue of a deceased active or retired
member, or the child or children legally adopted by a deceased member prior to the
deceased member's retirement from active service or by a retired member prior to July
1, 1937.
2. "Surviving spouse" means only the surviving spouse of a marriage contracted prior to
retirement of a deceased member from active service or of a marriage of a retired
member contracted prior to July 1, 1937.
### § 40-45-15. Right to retirement once acquired cannot be lost.

After any member of a police department shall have become entitled to be retired under the
provisions of this chapter, such right shall not be lost or forfeited by discharge or for any other
reason.

### § 40-45-16. Increase of assessments by city having police retirement system based

upon actuarial tables.
If the mill levy provided for in section 40-45-01, together with contributions from
beneficiaries and funds received from other sources as provided in this chapter, is inadequate or
insufficient to establish a retirement system based upon actuarial tables, the governing body, in
order to establish such system upon an actuarial basis, may increase the amount of the
contributions from beneficiaries.
### § 40-45-17. Reduction of retirement benefits by amount received from workmen's

compensation fund.
Repealed by S.L. 1979, ch. 448, § 1.
### § 40-45-18. Qualification under Social Security Act authorized - Reduction of retirement

benefits.
In the event that the federal Social Security Act shall be extended by the Congress of the
United States to municipal employees, the governing body of any municipality may take all
steps necessary to qualify its employees, subject to the terms of this chapter, for benefits under
the retirement provisions of the said Social Security Act. In such event, the benefits received
under and by virtue of any retirement plan established under the provisions of this chapter shall
be reduced by the benefits received under the federal Social Security Act.
### § 40-45-19. Re-examination of retired member physically or mentally disabled - Notice -

Witnesses.
The board of trustees, at any time, may cause any member of the department retired by
reason of physical or mental disability to be brought before it and again examined by three
competent physicians appointed by the board to discover whether such disability continues,
whether it can be improved, and whether such retired member should be continued on the
pension roll, and the board may examine witnesses for such purposes. The question of
continued disability or ability to perform regular or light duty in the police department shall be
determined by the concurring report of at least two of the three examining physicians. Such
member shall have reasonable notice that the examination will be made and that the member
shall be present at the time of the taking of any testimony. The member may examine the
witnesses brought before the board and introduce evidence in the member's own behalf. All
witnesses shall be examined under oath, which may be administered by any member of the
board.
### § 40-45-20. Decision on re-examination is final - Exception.

The decision of the board of trustees upon the re-examination provided for in section
therefrom. The disabled member shall remain upon the pension roll unless and until reinstated
in the department by reason of the re-examination.
### § 40-45-21. Police department employees entitled to refund from fund upon termination

of employment with city.
Any employee of a police department who shall have contributed to the police pension fund,
and who voluntarily and while in good standing as a member of such police force leaves the
employment of the city, shall be entitled upon application at the time of such termination to a
refund of all contributions made by that person.
### § 40-45-22. Warrants on pension fund - Treasurer's report - Contents.

All pensions paid and all moneys drawn from the pension fund under the provisions of this
chapter shall be upon warrants signed by the board of trustees. Such warrants shall designate
the person to whom and the purpose for which payment is made. The treasurer's annual report
shall show the receipts and expenditures of the fund for the preceding fiscal year, the money on
hand, and how the same is invested.

### § 40-45-23. Pensions not subject to debts, execution, or other process.

Repealed by S.L. 1987, ch. 386, § 2.
### § 40-45-24. Cities may provide hospitalization and nursing for police department - How

cost paid - Exception.
Cities may provide hospital, nursing, and medical attention for the members of the police
department when injured while in the performance of their duties as members of such
department. The cost of such hospitalization, nursing, and medical attention shall be paid out of
the appropriation for the department. Any amounts received by the injured person under the
provisions of title 65 or from any other source for such specific purposes shall be deducted from
the amount paid by the city under the provisions of this section.
### § 40-45-25. Hours of duty of police officers in cities over ten thousand population -

Limitations - Exceptions.
A police officer employed in the police department of a city having a population of ten
thousand or more inhabitants shall not be required to remain on duty for periods of time which
will aggregate in each month more than an average of eight hours per day. No single period of
time or shift shall exceed twenty-four hours in length except that in case of serious emergency,
the police officer may be required to remain on duty until the emergency has passed, if the
officer is ordered to do so by the chief of the department or the person acting in the chief's
place. The provisions of this section shall not apply to the chief or other persons in command of
a police department or to police officers who are employed subject to call only.
### § 40-45-26. Question of continuance of police pension plan.

The governing body of a city having a police pension plan may discontinue such plan upon
receipt of a petition requesting such discontinuance signed by sixty percent of the police
employees and pensioners of the city as of the date of the filing of such petition and upon the
subsequent adoption by the governing body of a resolution by two-thirds vote of the members
present stating that the plan is not desirable or workable.
### § 40-45-27. Procedure upon discontinuance of police pension plan.

If the governing body of the city shall determine by a two-thirds vote as provided in section
provided in section 40-46-25.
### § 40-45-28. Pension cost of living increase.

In July of each year, the police pension board may add, if found actuarially sound, a cost of
living increase to the monthly amounts paid beneficiaries from the pension fund. The total
monthly pension payment under this section shall not exceed sixty percent of the monthly salary
average during the preceding thirty-six months for the same or comparable position in the police
department as held by the retiree in the retiree's last month before retirement.
### § 40-45-29. Pension cost of living decrease.

The pensions provided in this chapter may be decreased by the police pension board if the
cost of living goes down.
