Section 18-67 Retirement by reason of age or service.

(a) A covered firefighter employee shall be eligible to receive retirement benefits upon reaching the age of sixty-five (65) or upon having completed twenty (20) years of active service, without regard to age.

(1) To a retiree with less than twenty (20) years of active service, a retirement benefit equal to two (2) per cent of the retiree’s highest average salary multiplied by the number of years of active service.

(2) To a retiree who has completed at least twenty (20) years of service, a retirement benefit equal to seventy (70) per cent of the employee’s highest average salary plus two (2) per cent per year for each year of active service in excess of twenty (20) years, up to a maximum benefit of eighty (80) per cent of the highest average salary of the retiree.

(d) Upon approval of any application for benefits by the administrator, the applicant shall be entitled to receive monthly benefit payments beginning on the last day of the month immediately following the month in which employment ends.

(e) If, when a covered firefighter’s employment is terminated, the reserve value of the employee’s retirement benefits is less than five thousand dollars ($5,000.00), the administrator shall pay the employee the amount of the reserve value in a single lump sum payment. “Reserve value” is the actuarial equivalent of the pension benefits the covered firefighter employee would otherwise be eligible to receive under the firefighters’ retirement plan. The single lump sum payment shall be made as soon as possible after employment is terminated and shall be in lieu of all other retirement benefits otherwise due the employee under the firefighters’ retirement plan. The single lump sum payment shall be a complete discharge of all liabilities of the firefighters’ retirement fund to the employee. This subsection shall not apply to covered firefighter employees who retire on disability.

(f) In accordance with the requirements of section 401(a)(9) of the code, distributions of retirement benefits under this section shall begin no later than April 1 of the year in which the retiree either attains the age of seventy and one-half or retires, whichever is later. Any distribution options in the firefighters’ retirement plan inconsistent with the provisions of section 401(a)(9) of the code are overridden by the provisions of the code.