S T A T E O F N E W Y O R K
________________________________________________________________________
5956
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
I N S E N A T E
May 16, 2019
___________
Introduced by Sen. MAY -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Civil Service and Pensions
AN ACT to authorize Morgan McDole, Baraaka J. Titus and David Dunlap, to
elect to participate in the optional twenty year retirement plan for
firefighters employed by the City of Syracuse Fire Department in the
county of Onondaga
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
Section 1. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary,
the City of Syracuse Fire Department, in the county of Onondaga, a
participating employer in the New York state and local police and fire
retirement system, which previously elected to offer the optional twenty
year retirement plan, established pursuant to section 384-d of the
retirement and social security law, to firefighters employed by such
fire district, is hereby authorized to make participation in such plan
available to Morgan McDole, Baraaka J. Titus and David Dunlap; fire-
fighters employed by such fire department, who, for reasons not ascriba-
ble to their own negligence, failed to make a timely application to
participate in such optional twenty year retirement plan. Thereafter,
Morgan McDole, Baraaka J. Titus and David Dunlap may elect to be covered
by the provisions of section 384-d of the retirement and social security
law, and shall be entitled to the full rights and benefits associated
with coverage under such section, by filing a request to that effect
with the state comptroller within six months from the effective date of
this act.
§ 2. All past service costs associated with implementing the
provisions of this act shall be borne by the City of Syracuse Fire
Department and may be amortized over a period of ten years.
§ 3. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, this
act shall be contingent upon the City of Syracuse Fire Department Board
of Fire Commissioners passing a resolution requesting the enactment of
EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD07045-04-9
S. 5956 2
this legislation and providing copies of such resolution to each house
of the legislature.
§ 4. This act shall take effect immediately.
FISCAL NOTE.--Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50:
This bill would allow the City of Syracuse to reopen the provisions of
Section 384-d of the Retirement and Social Security Law for firefighters
Morgan McDole, Baraaka J. Titus and David Dunlap.
If this bill is enacted during the 2019 legislative session and these
members become covered under the provisions of Section 384-d, we antic-
ipate that there will be an increase of approximately $21,000 in the
annual contributions of the City of Syracuse for the fiscal year ending
March 31, 2020. In future years, this cost will vary as the billing
rates and salary of these members change.
In addition to the annual contributions discussed above, there will be
an immediate past service cost of $339,000 which will be borne by the
City of Syracuse as a one-time payment. This estimate is based on the
assumption that payment will be made on February 1, 2020. If the City of
Syracuse elects to amortize this cost over a 10 year period, the cost
for the first year would be $45,100.
Summary of relevant resources:
The membership data used in measuring the impact of the proposed
change was the same as that used in the March 31, 2018 actuarial valu-
ation. Distributions and other statistics can be found in the 2018
Report of the Actuary and the 2018 Comprehensive Annual Financial
Report.
The actuarial assumptions and methods used are described in the 2015,
2016, 2017 and 2018 Annual Report to the Comptroller on Actuarial
Assumptions, and the Codes, Rules and Regulations of the State of New
York: Audit and Control.
The Market Assets and GASB Disclosures are found in the March 31, 2018
New York State and Local Retirement System Financial Statements and
Supplementary Information.
I am a member of the American Academy of Actuaries and meet the Quali-
fication Standards to render the actuarial opinion contained herein.
This fiscal note does not constitute a legal opinion on the viability
of the proposed change nor is it intended to serve as a substitute for
the professional judgment of an attorney.
This estimate, dated February 26, 2019, and intended for use only
during the 2019 Legislative Session, is Fiscal Note No. 2019-84,
prepared by the Actuary for the New York State and Local Retirement
System.
