§128-25. Membership in System

Should sixty per centum (60%) of the members of any retirement, pension or annuity fund or system of any county, city or town of the State, hereafter referred to as a local pension system, elect to become members of the North Carolina Governmental Employees' Retirement System, by a petition duly signed by such members, the participation of such members in the Retirement System may be approved as provided in G.S. 128-24 as though such local pension system were not in operation, and the provisions of this Article shall also apply, except that the existing pensioners or annuitants of the local pension system who were being paid pensions on the date of the approval shall  be continued and paid at their existing rates by the North Carolina Governmental Employees' Retirement System, and the liability on this account shall be included in the computation of the accrued liability by the actuary as provided by G.S. 128-30, subsection (d). Any cash and securities to the credit of the local pension system shall be transferred to the North Carolina Governmental Employees' Retirement System as of the date of the approval. The trustees or other administrative head of the local pension system as of the date of the  approval shall certify the proportion, if any, of the funds of the System that represents the accumulated contributions of the members, and the relative shares of the members as of that date. Such shares shall be credited to the respective annuity savings accounts of such members in the North Carolina Governmental Employees' Retirement System. The balance of the funds transferred to the North Carolina Governmental Employees' Retirement System shall be offset against the accrued liability before determining the special accrued liability contribution to be paid by the county, city or town as provided by G.S. 128-30, subsection (d). The operation of the local pension system shall be discontinued as of the date of the approval.

(1939, c. 390, s. 5; 1941, c. 357, s. 4.)