82 ARTICLE 17.

for retirement, and may upon his or her application, be retired, and shall
thereafter likewise be entitled to, and shall be paid an annual retirement
allowance equal to the result obtained by multiplying the average salary
paid to him or her for the five years next preceding his or her retirement
by the number of years of his or her service, ascertained as aforesaid and
dividing by the number seventy.

1929, ch. 351, sec. 77.

77. Upon receipt of any application from any party claiming to be
eligible for a retirement allowance under this sub-title, it shall be the duty
of said Retirement Board forthwith to make a prompt and impartial inves-
tigation, (and upon the request of the applicant to give him or her a hear-
ing) as to the merits of such application and the facts justifying the same,
and in connection therewith to call, swear, examine and hear such wit-
nesses, and to call for and examine such records or documents, or copies,
thereof, as said applicant or applicants may request or the Retirement
Board may desire, and may cause medical examination to be made and
expert testimony to be heard regarding the health and physical condition
of the applicant in all cases in which the application is based upon physical
disability.

Thereafter if said Retirement Board find that any applicant is eligible
for retirement under any of the provisions of this sub-title, it shall be the
duty of the said Retirement Board to certify its findings of fact promptly
and, in no case later than December 1 of any year, in the matter of every
application for retirement thereunder to the Governor of Maryland, and
state the amount of retirement allowance, if any, to which every applicant
is respectively entitled hereunder; and said Retirement Board shall on or
before December 1, 1929, and bi-ennially thereafter, submit to the Gover-
nor an estimate of the sums required for present and past retirement allow-
ances, unpaid and unprovided for, as well as sums necessary to pay future
retirement allowances for the next two years, and which may be antici-
pated, in accordance with the provisions of this sub-title (to the end that
applicants may in every instance receive the benefits of their retirement
allowance from the date of the certification of its favorably and affirmative
findings by said Retirement Board to the Governor) until the next Budget
Appropriation becomes operative, and likewise the sums necessary to meet
the requirements for costs, expenses, etc., as aforesaid already made includ-
ing the expenses of said Retirement Board and its members, as aforesaid.
And it shall be the duty of the Governor in his Budget to allow for and
recommend the appropriation of such amounts as are necessary to meet and
pay such retirement allowances, costs, expenses, etc., and submit the same
to the General Assembly. Provided, however, the sum or sums necessary
to meet the payments required for retirement allowances and the said
expenses of said Board under this said Retirement System shall be paid
out of the monies paid into the Treasury of the State by the several said
Clerks of the Courts and Registers of Wills for Baltimore City and the
counties of Maryland from their excess fees and collections; and provided,
further, that retirement allowances hereunder shall be paid monthly.