OAG 82-349 | KOGC

Request By:

Mr. Paul D. LaBare, Sr.
443 Center Street
Erlanger, Kentucky 41018

Opinion

Opinion By: Steven L. Beshear, Attorney General; By: Walter C. Herdman, Assistant Deputy Attorney General

This is in response to your letter of recent date in which you refer to the fact that you were employed by the City of Erlanger as a police officer from January 1957 to May 1966, during which time you contributed to the police pension fund which involved KRS 95.620. At the time that you and others resigned during the years mentioned, no refund of contributions was authorized. However, as you point out, KRS 95.620 was amended in 1972 [not 1978] which permitted the return of contributions to those officers who resigned before retirement. At the 1982 session of the General Assembly, H.B. 332 amended KRS 95.620 to require the return of such contributions to those members who leave their positions after July 15, 1982 but before retirement. The question is raised as to whether or not H.B. 332 requires those members who have contributed to the fund but left service prior to 1972, to receive refunds.

In OAG 72-431, copy attached, this office held that those persons leaving service prior to the enactment of the 1972 amendment, which gave the pension board discretion in refunding contributions, were not entitled to a refund as the amendment was not retroactive. The 1982 amendment, making the return mandatory, would likewise not be retroactive and would apply only to those individuals leaving service following the effective date of said amendment, July 15, 1982. The language is very clear on this and reads as follows:

"(2) From July 15, 1982 and thereafter. the board of trustees of the pension fund shall, upon the request of a member, refund a member's contribution upon that member's withdrawal from service prior to qualifying for pension. . . ."

As a consequence, neither you nor any other person resigning between January 1957 and May 1966 would be entitled to a refund of your contributions under either the 1972 or 1982 amendments to KRS 95.620.

LLM Summary

In OAG 82-349, the Attorney General responded to an inquiry regarding whether police officers who contributed to the pension fund and resigned before the 1972 amendment to KRS 95.620, which allowed for refunds, were entitled to receive refunds. The decision cites OAG 72-431 to confirm that the amendments to the statute were not retroactive and thus do not apply to officers who left their positions before the amendments were enacted. Therefore, individuals who resigned between January 1957 and May 1966 are not entitled to refunds of their contributions under the 1972 or 1982 amendments.

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