b'19931997 The Board of Pension Commissioners was givenA new Tier 4 pension plan (formerly Article XXXV, authoritytoincreaseinvestmentsunderthePlan 2) was established effective July 1, 1997. All prudent person provisions of the Charter fromTier 3 members hired between December 8, 1980 25% to 50% of the stock portfolio. and June 30, 1997 were given until June 30, 1998 Retired Tier 2 members may be recalled for up toto make an irrevocable transfer to Tier 4. one year after retirement. TheCharterwasalsoamendedtoallow,at thediscretionoftheCityCouncil,administra-1995tiveexpenses,whichshallincludeinvestment managementexpenses,tobepaidfromfund Theamountofsalarytobeusedtocalculateassets.pension benefits was capped at $150,000 (adjust- The City Council approved an ordinance lowering ed annually) for members hired on or after July 1,the eligibility age to 55 for the health insurance 1996. premiumsubsidyformembersretiringonor TheCityCouncilwasauthorizedtoenactafter July 1, 1998 with at least 10 years of service.ordinances required to maintain the tax-qualified status of Tier 3 under federal law.1996 In January 1996, a new federal law prohibited states from taxing retirement income of nonresidents.EffectiveDecember5,1996,pensionbenefits to the qualified surviving spouse of a deceased firefighter or police officer continue even if the spouse remarries.The City implemented an Internal Revenue Code provisionthatrequiredtheSystemtocollect member contributions on a pre-tax basis. Previ-ously,memberpensioncontributionswere collected after-tax from July 1, 1982 to December1999 21, 1996; and pre-tax before July 1, 1982.TheCityCouncilwasgivenauthoritytoestab-lish, by ordinance, survivor benefits for domestic partners and pension benefits for sworn employ-ees brought into City employment by merger or contract for fire or police services.Aprovisionwasestablishedsothatmembers hired July 1, 1997 through December 31, 1997 could irrevocably elect to transfer from Tier 4 to Tier 3. TheprovisionallowedtheMetropolitanTrans-portation Authority officers who merged into the Police Department to join either Tier 3 or Tier 4. A delay in the merger made it necessary to add this provision so that negotiated benefits could be provided.SECTION 9 Milestones 171'