City of Sunbury v. Karpinski

In City of Sunbury v. Karpinski, 70 Pa. Commw. 473, 453 A.2d 1062, 1064 (Pa. Cmwlth. 1982), the Court specifically determined a city ordinance, which required an "honorable discharge" was a prerequisite to receipt of a pension, conflicted with Sections 4302 and 4303 of the Third Class City Code, 53 P.S. 39302, 39303, and was therefore void. In that case, the city's chief of police was charged with theft by failure to make proper disposition of parking meter money belonging to the city. The chief resigned prior to the city council's decision to dishonorably discharge him without pension benefits. The Court held that because the city ordinance requiring an honorable discharge as a prerequisite to receipt of the pension conflicted with the Third Class City Code, the ordinance was void, and could not operate to bar the chief's receipt of his pension benefits.