47-16-40. Application for membership in the fund; contents of application; claim for credit for prior service.

In order to become a member of the Sheriffs’ Retirement Fund of Georgia, an applicant must meet the following requirements:

He or she must be a duly qualified and commissioned sheriff of a county of the State of Georgia, serving as sheriff of the superior court of that county at the time he or she files his or her application;#

He or she must file his or her application for membership with the secretary-treasurer within one year from the date he or she begins service as a sheriff or within the time limits set forth in Code Section 47-16-41;#

He or she must set out in the application for membership his or her correct date of birth;#

He or she must list in his or her application for membership all periods of prior service, including credit under Code Section 47-16-80 for services in the armed forces of the United States or as a peace officer, for which service he or she intends to ask credit as basis for his or her future retirement, or shall forever be barred from claiming credit for services not so listed;#

The member must tender with the application, within 12 months from the date of that application, or at such other time as the board may provide, a sum equal to the total of $65.00 per month for credit claimed by the member under paragraph (4) of this Code section for past service from and including January 1, 1961, to the date of application; or if such amount is not paid by the due date, the member shall be conclusively deemed to have waived his or her claim or right for credit for such period of time; or#

He or she must also furnish to the board such other information and proof of pertinent facts set out in the application for membership or relative to it as may be required by the board; and failure to do so shall constitute grounds for denial of the application for membership by the board.#