Montana Code 20-9-501. Retirement costs and retirement fund
20-9-501. Retirement costs and retirement fund. (1) The trustees of a district or the management board of a cooperative employing personnel who are members of the teachers’ retirement system or the public employees’ retirement system, who are covered by unemployment insurance, or who are covered by any federal social security system requiring employer contributions shall establish a retirement fund for the purposes of budgeting and paying the employer’s contributions to the systems as provided in subsection (2)(a). The district’s or the cooperative’s contribution for each employee who is a member of the teachers’ retirement system must be calculated in accordance with Title 19, chapter 20, part 6. The district’s or the cooperative’s contribution for each employee who is a member of the public employees’ retirement system must be calculated in accordance with 19-3-316. The district’s or the cooperative’s contributions for each employee covered by any federal social security system must be paid in accordance with federal law and regulation. The district’s or the cooperative’s contribution for each employee who is covered by unemployment insurance must be paid in accordance with Title 39, chapter 51, part 11.
Terms Used In Montana Code 20-9-501
- ANB: means the average number of regularly enrolled, full-time pupils physically attending a school of the district or an offsite instructional setting or receiving remote instruction from the public schools of a district. See Montana Code 20-1-101
- BASE: means base amount for school equity. See Montana Code 20-9-306
- BASE aid: means :
(a)direct state aid for 44. See Montana Code 20-9-306
- community college district: means a body corporate and a subdivision of the state of Montana organized under a single board of trustees for the purpose of providing community college instruction open to all people, subject to uniform regulations as determined by the trustees. See Montana Code 20-15-101
- County superintendent: means the county government official who is the school officer of the county. See Montana Code 20-1-101
- district: means the territory, regardless of county boundaries, organized under the provisions of this title to provide public educational services under the jurisdiction of the trustees prescribed by this title. See Montana Code 20-6-101
- Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
- fund: means a separate detailed account of receipts and expenditures for a specific purpose as authorized by law or by the superintendent of public instruction under the provisions of subsection (2). See Montana Code 20-9-201
- Property: means real and personal property. See Montana Code 1-1-205
- Pupil: means an individual who is admitted by the board of trustees pursuant to 20-5-101 and who is enrolled in a school established and maintained under the laws of the state at public expense. See Montana Code 20-1-101
- school: means an institution for the teaching of children that is established and maintained under the laws of the state of Montana at public expense. See Montana Code 20-6-501
- School food services: means a service of providing food for the pupils of a district on a nonprofit basis and includes any food service financially assisted through funds or commodities provided by the United States government. See Montana Code 20-1-101
- State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the territories. See Montana Code 1-1-201
- Superintendent of public instruction: means that state government official designated as a member of the executive branch by the Montana constitution. See Montana Code 20-1-101
- System: means the Montana university system. See Montana Code 20-1-101
- Trustees: means the governing board of a district. See Montana Code 20-1-101
(2)(a) The district or the cooperative shall pay the employer’s contributions to the retirement, federal social security, and unemployment insurance systems from the retirement fund for the following:
(i)a district employee whose salary and health-related benefits, if any health-related benefits are provided to the employee, are paid from state or local funding sources;
(ii)a cooperative employee whose salary and health-related benefits, if any health-related benefits are provided to the employee, are paid from the cooperative’s interlocal cooperative fund if the fund is supported solely from districts’ general funds and state special education allowable cost payments, pursuant to 20-9-321, or are paid from the miscellaneous programs fund, provided for in 20-9-507, from money received from the medicaid program, pursuant to 53-6-101;
(iii)a district employee whose salary and health-related benefits, if any health-related benefits are provided to the employee, are paid from the district’s school food services fund provided for in 20-10-204; and
(iv)a district employee whose salary and health-related benefits, if any health-related benefits are provided to the employee, are paid from the district impact aid fund, pursuant to 20-9-514.
(b)For an employee whose benefits are not paid from the retirement fund, the district or the cooperative shall pay the employer’s contributions to the retirement, federal social security, and unemployment insurance systems from the funding source that pays the employee’s salary.
(3)The trustees of a district required to make a contribution to a system referred to in subsection (1) shall include in the retirement fund of the final budget the estimated amount of the employer’s contribution. After the final retirement fund budget has been adopted, the trustees shall pay the employer contributions to the systems in accordance with the financial administration provisions of this title.
(4)When the final retirement fund budget has been adopted, the county superintendent shall establish the levy requirement by:
(a)determining the sum of the money available to reduce the retirement fund levy requirement by adding:
(i)any anticipated money that may be realized in the retirement fund during the ensuing school fiscal year;
(ii)oil and natural gas production taxes;
(iii)coal gross proceeds taxes under 15-23-703;
(iv)any fund balance available for reappropriation as determined by subtracting the amount of the end-of-the-year fund balance earmarked as the retirement fund operating reserve for the ensuing school fiscal year by the trustees from the end-of-the-year fund balance in the retirement fund. The retirement fund operating reserve may not be more than 20% of the final retirement fund budget for the ensuing school fiscal year and must be used for the purpose of paying retirement fund warrants issued by the district under the final retirement fund budget.
(v)any other revenue anticipated that may be realized in the retirement fund during the ensuing school fiscal year, excluding any guaranteed tax base aid;
(b)notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (9), subtracting the money available for reduction of the levy requirement, as determined in subsection (4)(a), from the budgeted amount for expenditures in the final retirement fund budget.
(5)The county superintendent shall:
(a)total the net retirement fund levy requirements separately for all elementary school districts, all high school districts, and all community college districts of the county, including any prorated joint district or special education cooperative agreement levy requirements; and
(b)report each levy requirement to the county commissioners by the later of the first Tuesday in September or within 30 calendar days after receiving certified taxable values as the respective county levy requirements for elementary district, high school district, and community college district retirement funds.
(6)The county commissioners shall fix and set the county levy or district levy in accordance with 20-9-142.
(7)The net retirement fund levy requirement for a joint elementary district or a joint high school district must be prorated to each county in which a part of the district is located in the same proportion as the district ANB of the joint district is distributed by pupil residence in each county. The county superintendents of the counties affected shall jointly determine the net retirement fund levy requirement for each county as provided in 20-9-151.
(8)The net retirement fund levy requirement for districts that are members of special education cooperative agreements must be prorated to each county in which the district is located in the same proportion as the special education cooperative budget is prorated to the member school districts. The county superintendents of the counties affected shall jointly determine the net retirement fund levy requirement for each county in the same manner as provided in 20-9-151, and the county commissioners shall fix and levy the net retirement fund levy for each county in the same manner as provided in 20-9-152.
(9)The county superintendent shall calculate the number of mills to be levied on the taxable property in the county to finance the retirement fund net levy requirement by dividing the amount determined in subsection (5)(a) by the sum of:
(a)the amount of guaranteed tax base aid that the county will receive for each mill levied, as certified by the superintendent of public instruction; and
(b)the taxable valuation of the district divided by 1,000.
(10)The levy for a community college district may be applied only to property within the district.
(11)The county superintendent of each county shall submit a report of the revenue amounts used to establish the levy requirements for county school funds supporting elementary and high school district retirement obligations to the superintendent of public instruction on or before September 15. The report must be completed on forms supplied by the superintendent of public instruction.