Ch. 460                             MARVIN MANDEL, Governor                                  981

(5) Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in this article, membership in the
retirement system shall be optional with any class of officials elected or appointed;
or with any employees of the Governor's office, or with any desk officer or
employee of either house of the General Assembly who receives an annual salary
as his compensation for such employment, who shall be deemed to be an appointed
official within the application of this subsection. All officials elected or appointed
on or after July 1, 1957, may become members of the system upon making
application therefor at any time after their elections or appointment and before the
expiration of their respective terms. All such officials shall be entitled to credit for
previous service rendered by them to the State, or a participating municipal
corporation, including service rendered prior to the establishment of the
Employees' Retirement System. Upon receiving a claim for such service credit
from the official, the board of trustees of the retirement system shall verify the fact
of such previous employment and the creditable service to which the member is
entitled, compute the amount due from such political subdivision for which credit
is claimed, and submit a statement to the participating municipal corporation for
such amount, such computation to be based upon the compensation actually
received by the official from the municipal corporation during the period for which
service is to be credited. The participating municipal corporation is authorized and
directed forthwith to pay the said amount to the retirement system or to place it in
the next ensuing budget for prompt payment when that budget becomes effective.
The board of trustees is authorized and directed to include any amount due from
the State in the appropriation allowed by the next ensuing State budget.

Any such official who receives membership service credit for service rendered to
the State or to a participating municipal corporation under the provisions of this
subsection shall pay to the retirement system by single payment, within such period
of time as may be determined by the board of trustees, the contributions, with
interest, which he would have paid had he been a member of the retirement system
but withdrew. Provided, however, that any such member may waive the payment
of any or all such contributions, in which case upon retirement any SERVICE
RETIREMENT ALLOWANCE, ANY ordinary disability retirement allowance
or any allowance due to nonreappointment or nonreelection to any office payable
to such official, shall be reduced by the actuarial equivalent of those contributions
which he had not paid, with interest to date of retirement.

Provided further that any desk officer or employee of either house of the
General Assembly, who was receiving an annual salary as compensation for such
employment as of February 1, 1961, and who previously served as a desk officer or
employee of either house of the General Assembly and received per diem
compensation for such previous service, shall be entitled to prior service credit
equal to four years for any four-year term of a General Assembly during which
such previous service was rendered.

Notwithstanding any other provisions of this article, any member of the
retirement system who had previously served as an elected or appointed official
shall be entitled to receive credit for the period of such prior service upon making
in a single payment, within such period of time as may be determined by the board
of trustees, the contributions, with interest, which he would have paid on behalf of
such service.

At the time of retirement as a judge in one of the listed courts, the member is
eligible to receive benefits from both the retirement system and the Judges'
Pension System. Upon retirement, no salaried State employee, judge, legislator, or
executive official may receive benefits under more than one pension system for the
same period of service.

(5a) Notwithstanding any provision of general or local law to the contrary, any
member of a local retirement system which is operated on an actuarial basis, as