Baltimore County                             2609

Actuarial equivalent. "Actuarial equivalent" shall mean a bene-
fit of equal value when computed upon the basis of such mortality
tables as shall be adopted by the board of trustees, and regular
interest.

Annuity. "Annuity" shall mean payments for life derived from
the accumulated contributions of a member. All annuities shall be
payable in equal monthly installments.

[Annuity reserve. "Annuity reserve" shall mean the present
value of all payments to be made on account of any annuity, or benefit
in lieu of any annuity, computed upon the basis of such mortality
tables as shall be adopted by the board of trustees, and regular
interest.]

Appointed department head. "Appointed department head" shall
mean the County Executive, County Administrative Officer, County
Auditor, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE BALTIMORE
COUNTY REVENUE AUTHORITY, and those persons who are the
heads of offices and departments as enumerated in Sections 503 and
504 of the Baltimore County Charter, other than the Departments
of education, libraries, health, and welfare; provided that any person
who, on July 1, 1971, is the head of a Department so excluded and
is on that date a member of the system shall be an appointed depart-
ment head.

Average final compensation. "Average final compensation" shall
mean the average annual earnable compensation of an employee
during the [five] three consecutive years in his service as an employee
affording the highest such average, or if he has had less than [five]
three years of service, then his average annual earnable compensation
during the total years of his service.

Beneficiary. "Beneficiary" shall mean any person in receipt of
a pension, an annuity, a retirement allowance or other benefit as
provided by this article.

Board of trustees or board. "Board of Trustees" or "board" shall
mean the board provided for in sections 20-32 to 20-41 of this Code to
administer the retirement system.

Creditable service. "Creditable service" shall mean prior serv-
ice plus membership service, for which credit is allowable as provided
in sections 20-13 to 20-17 of this Code.

Earnable compensation. "Earnable compensation" shall mean
the full rate of compensation that would be payable to an employee if
he worked the full normal working time for his position. In cases
where compensation includes maintenance, the board of trustees
shall fix the value of that part of the compensation not paid in money.

Employee. "Employee" shall mean any regular officer or em-
ployee of the employer, appointed or elected, whose compensation is
paid by the employer, except any person who is a direct appointee of
the Governor of the state, or for whom there are already existing pen-