For the purposes of the Cities of the First Class Firefighters Retirement Act, unless the context otherwise requires:

(1) Absolute coverage group means an absolute coverage group as described in 20 C.F.R. 404.1205 as such regulation existed on January 1, 2024;

(2) Actuarial equivalent means equality in value of the aggregate amount of benefit expected to be received under different forms or at different times determined as of a given date as adopted by the city or the retirement committee for use by the retirement system. Actuarial equivalencies shall be specified in the funding medium established for the retirement system, except that if benefits under the retirement system are obtained through the purchase of an annuity contract, the actuarial equivalency of any such form of benefit shall be the amount of pension benefit which can be purchased or otherwise provided by such contract. All actuarial and mortality assumptions adopted by the city or retirement committee shall be on a sex-neutral basis;

(3) Annuity contract means the contract or contracts issued by one or more life insurance companies or designated trusts and purchased by the retirement system in order to provide any of the benefits described in the Cities of the First Class Firefighters Retirement Act. Annuity conversion rates contained in any such contract shall be specified on a sex-neutral basis;

(4) Beneficiary means the person or persons designated by a firefighter, pursuant to a written instrument filed with the retirement committee before the firefighter's death, to receive death benefits which may be payable under the retirement system;

(5) Funding agent means any bank, trust company, life insurance company, thrift institution, credit union, or investment management firm selected by the retirement committee, subject to the approval of the city, to hold or invest the funds of the retirement system;

(6) Regular interest means the rate of interest earned each calendar year commencing January 1, 1984, equal to the rate of net earnings realized for the calendar year from investments of the retirement fund. Net earnings means the amount by which income or gain realized from investments of the retirement fund exceeds the amount of any realized losses from such investments during the calendar year. The retirement committee shall annually report the amount of regular interest earned for such year;

(7) Regular pay means the salary of a firefighter at the date such firefighter elects to retire or terminate employment with the city;

(8) Retirement committee means the retirement committee created pursuant to section 16-1034;

(9) Retirement system means a retirement system established pursuant to the Cities of the First Class Firefighters Retirement Act;

(10) Retirement value means the accumulated value of the firefighter's employee account and employer account. The retirement value at any time shall consist of the sum of the contributions made or transferred to such accounts by the firefighter and by the city on the firefighter's behalf and the regular interest credited to the accounts through such date, reduced by any realized losses which were not taken into account in determining regular interest in any year, and as further adjusted each year to reflect the accounts' pro rata share of the appreciation or depreciation of the assets of the retirement system as determined by the retirement committee at their fair market values, including any account under subsection (2) of section 16-1036. Such valuation shall be undertaken at least annually as of December 31 of each year and at such other times as may be directed by the retirement committee. The value of each account shall be reduced each year by the appropriate share of the investment costs as provided in section 16-1036.01. The retirement value shall be further reduced by the amount of all distributions made to or on the behalf of the firefighter from the retirement system;

(11)(a) Salary means all amounts paid to a participating firefighter by the employing city for personal services as reported on the participant's federal income tax withholding statement, including overtime, call-in, and call-back pay and the firefighter's contributions picked up by the city as provided in subsection (2) of section 16-1024 and any salary reduction contributions that are excludable from income for federal income tax purposes pursuant to section 125 or 457 of the Internal Revenue Code; and

(b) Salary does not include clothing allowances;

(12) Sex-neutral basis means the benefit calculation provided to the city of the first class by a licensed domestic or foreign insurance or annuity company with a product available for purchase in Nebraska that utilizes a blended, non-gender-specific rate for actuarial assumptions, mortality assumptions, and annuity conversion rates for a particular participant, except that if a blended, non-gender-specific rate is not available for purchase in Nebraska, the benefit calculation shall be performed using the arithmetic mean of the male-specific actuarial assumptions, mortality assumptions, or annuity conversion rates and the female-specific actuarial assumptions, mortality assumptions, or annuity conversion rates, as applicable, for a particular participant, and the arithmetic mean shall be determined by adding the male-specific actuarial assumptions, mortality assumptions, or annuity conversion rates to the female-specific actuarial assumptions, mortality assumptions, or annuity conversion rates applicable to a particular participant and dividing the sum by two; and

(13) Straight life annuity means an ordinary annuity payable for the life of the primary annuitant only, and terminating at his or her death without refund or death benefit of any kind.