19-20-410. Creditable service for extension service employment. (1) (a) At any time before retirement, a member with 5 years or more of creditable service in the retirement system may file a written application with the retirement board to purchase up to 5 years of employment service with the Montana cooperative extension service, subject to the limitation contained in 19-20-405, if:
     (i) the member became a member of the retirement system before July 1, 1989;
     (ii) the service involved instructional service at a unit of the Montana university system; and
     (iii) the member received a refund of membership contributions under the civil service retirement system or the federal employees' retirement system for the service to be purchased.
     (b) For each year of service to be purchased under subsection (1)(a), the member shall contribute to the retirement system an amount equal to the combined employer and employee contribution rate in effect at the time that the member is eligible to purchase the service multiplied by the member's first full year's teaching salary earned after becoming a member of the retirement system, plus interest paid as follows:
     (i) if a written application to purchase service was signed prior to July 1, 2012, at the rate that the contribution would have earned had the contribution been in the member's account upon the completion of 5 years of membership service; or
     (ii) if a written application to purchase service is signed [on or] after July 1, 2012, at the actuarially assumed interest rate in effect on the date the written application is signed.
     (2) In addition to service purchased under subsection (1) and subject to 19-20-407, a member who has purchased 5 years or more of creditable service in the retirement system may purchase additional years of cooperative extension service by contributing to the system the full actuarial cost of the service.
     (3) Contributions to purchase service under this section may be made in a lump-sum payment or in installments as agreed upon by the member and the retirement board.

     History: En. Sec. 1, Ch. 79, L. 1987; amd. Sec. 6, Ch. 113, L. 1989; Sec. 19-4-410, MCA 1991; redes. 19-20-410 by Code Commissioner, 1993; amd. Sec. 3, Ch. 408, L. 1997; amd. Sec. 11, Ch. 45, L. 2001; amd. Sec. 6, Ch. 151, L. 2011.