Colorado § 24-51-205 - General authority of the board.

§ 24-51-205. General authority of the board.

(1) The board shall have the authority to determine membership status within the state, school, local government, judicial, and Denver public schools divisions; exemptions from membership; eligibility for benefits, life insurance, health care, the voluntary investment program, the association's defined contribution plan, and the deferred compensation plan; and service credit and salary to be used in calculations pursuant to the provisions of this article. Such decisions by the board may be appealed through the administrative review procedures set forth in the board rules. Such final decision by the board shall be subject only to review by proper court action.

(2) The board is authorized to accept on behalf of the association any moneys or properties received in the form of donations, gifts, appropriations, bequests, forfeitures, or otherwise, or income derived therefrom. This subsection (2) does not allow the board to accept or retain money held by the association that is presumed to be abandoned pursuant to section 38-13-216.

(3) The board is authorized to recover, through legal process or offset, any amount paid as benefits, refunds, single payments, premium subsidies, or other payments, to which the recipient is not entitled, with interest, plus attorney fees and costs associated with such recovery. If it is determined that the recipient was entitled to the amount paid, the recipient shall be entitled to the attorney fees and costs that he or she incurred in defending the legal action or offset initiated by the board.

(3.5) The board is authorized to settle or compromise any dispute on behalf of the association. The board may consider relevant factors regarding any dispute, including but not limited to the cost of litigation, the likelihood of success on the merits, the cost of delay in resolving the dispute, and the actuarial impact on the fund, in determining whether to settle or compromise the dispute.

(4) The board is authorized to use and hold property in a nominee partnership composed of trustees or employees of the association, designated by the board through appropriate resolution, to facilitate investment sale and exchange transactions. The partners of the nominee partnership shall be insured pursuant to the provisions of section 24-51-204 (9).

(5) The board may hold discussions in executive sessions which shall be closed to the public, in accordance with the provisions of section 24-51-204 (2).

(6) (a) The board may delegate any of its responsibilities, duties, and authorities as set forth in this article 51 to the executive director of the association or to designated agents of the association. The board shall retain final authority and responsibility for the management of the association and all duties and powers authorized by this article 51 through the administrative review procedures authorized by subsection (1) of this section. Subject to subsection (6)(b) of this section, the executive director may correct an administrative error made by the board, the executive director, or the employees of the association and may make any appropriate correcting adjustments upon receiving written documentation of the following:

(I) That the error was an administrative error of the plan;

(II) That the error was not caused or contributed to in whole or in part by an employer, member, retiree, or other person eligible to receive payments from the association; and

(III) That the error was discovered on or after July 1, 1997.

(b) The executive director shall file a report monthly with the board setting forth the administrative errors corrected pursuant to subsection (6)(a) of this section. Such corrections shall be subject to board review after which the board may take any action it deems appropriate with regard to such errors.

(7) The board is authorized to purchase and maintain appropriate annuity contracts for the purpose of providing a voluntary contribution program to qualified employees of affiliated employers pursuant to section 403 (b) of the federal "Internal Revenue Code of 1986", as amended, and to create a separate trust fund to hold the assets of the program.

Source: L. 87: Entire article R&RE, p. 1048, § 1, effective July 1. L. 91: (3) amended, p. 826, § 1, effective April 9. L. 92: (2) amended, p. 2108, § 1, effective March 4. L. 95: (3.5) amended, p. 557, § 16, effective May 22. L. 97: (3) and (6) amended, p. 65, § 10, effective July 1. L. 2004: (1) amended, p. 1939, § 5, effective January 1, 2006. L. 2009: (1) amended and (7) added, (SB 09-066), ch. 73, p. 255, § 15, effective March 31; (1) amended (SB 09-282), ch. 288, p. 1335, § 5, effective January 1, 2010. L. 2019: (2) amended, (SB 19-088), ch. 110, p. 467, § 9, effective July 1, 2020. L. 2025: IP(6)(a) and (6)(b) amended, (SB 25-147), ch. 369, p. 1995, § 4, effective June 3.

Editor's note: (1) The provisions of this section are similar to provisions of several former sections as they existed prior to 1987. For a detailed comparison, see the comparative tables located in the back of the index.

(2) Amendments to subsection (1) by Senate Bill 09-066 and Senate Bill 09-282 were harmonized.

ANNOTATION

Board's authority to determine factually the salary to be used in calculations under this article does not conflict with the authority of a university to set compensation for its faculty under § 23-50-103. Rumford v. Pub. Emp. Retirement Ass'n, 883 P.2d 614 (Colo. App. 1994).

When a public employee has exhausted administrative remedies on a claim for disability retirement benefits and obtained a court order requiring PERA to consider the employee for benefits, the employee may not move for interest on any benefits awarded without exhausting administrative remedies as to the claimed interest. Hurricane v. Pub. Emp. Ret. Assn., 780 P.2d 3 (Colo. App. 1989).

The board has authority under this section to determine whether a payment is salary and whether the entity making the payment is an employer for the purpose of determining benefits. Pub. Emp. Ret. Ass'n v. Stermole, 874 P.2d 444 (Colo. App. 1993).

The trial court erred in overturning the board's decision where, by the express terms of the definition of "salary", the portions of a 15% increase received by plaintiffs solely by reason of their participation in an early retirement plan did not constitute salary for purposes of calculating retirement benefits. Ager v. Pub. Employees' Retirement Ass'n Bd., 923 P.2d 133 (Colo. App. 1995).

Board has no discretion but to pay the annuity provided for by law, and in refusing to do so is not regularly pursuing its authority. Annear v. McKelvey, 100 Colo. 213, 66 P.2d 536 (1937) (decided under former § 24-51-111 as it existed prior to the 1987 repeal and reenactment of this article).