S T A T E O F N E W Y O R K
________________________________________________________________________
6157--B
2023-2024 Regular Sessions
I N S E N A T E
March 31, 2023
___________
Introduced by Sens. JACKSON, CHU, HARCKHAM -- read twice and ordered
printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Civil
Service and Pensions -- recommitted to the Committee on Civil Service
and Pensions in accordance with Senate Rule 6, sec. 8 -- committee
discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted
to said committee -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered
reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee
AN ACT to amend the retirement and social security law, in relation to
providing additional benefits for certain retirement system members
with credited service in excess of twenty-five years
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
Section 1. Subdivisions c and f of section 89-e of the retirement and
social security law, as added by chapter 520 of the laws of 1988, are
amended to read as follows:
c. Upon completion of twenty-five years of such service and upon
retirement, each such member shall receive a pension which, together
with an annuity which shall be the actuarial equivalent of [his] SUCH
MEMBER'S accumulated contributions at the time of [his] SUCH MEMBER'S
retirement and an additional pension which is the actuarial equivalent
of the [reserved-for-increased-take-home-pay] RESERVE-FOR-INCREASED-
TAKE-HOME-PAY to which [he] SUCH MEMBER may then be entitled shall be
sufficient to provide [him] SUCH MEMBER with a retirement allowance
equal to one-half of [his] SUCH MEMBER'S final average salary, PROVIDED
HOWEVER THAT A MEMBER WITH CREDITED SERVICE IN EXCESS OF TWENTY-FIVE
YEARS SHALL RECEIVE AN ADDITIONAL RETIREMENT ALLOWANCE EQUAL TO ONE-SIX-
TIETH OF SUCH MEMBER'S FINAL AVERAGE SALARY FOR EACH YEAR OF CREDITABLE
SERVICE IN EXCESS OF TWENTY-FIVE YEARS BUT NOT IN EXCESS OF THIRTY
YEARS.
f. A member contributing on the basis of this section at the time of
retirement, [shall] MAY retire after the completion of twenty-five years
EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD10299-05-4
S. 6157--B 2
of total creditable service. Application therefor may be filed in a
manner similar to that provided in section seventy of this article. Upon
completion of AT LEAST twenty-five years of such service and upon
retirement, each such member shall receive a pension which, together
with an annuity which shall be the actuarial equivalent of [his] SUCH
MEMBER'S accumulated contributions at the time of [his] SUCH MEMBER'S
retirement and an additional pension which is the actuarial equivalent
of the reserve-for-increased-take-home-pay to which [he] SUCH MEMBER may
then be entitled shall be sufficient to provide [him] SUCH MEMBER with
a retirement allowance equal to one-half of [his] SUCH MEMBER'S final
average salary PLUS AN ADDITIONAL RETIREMENT ALLOWANCE EQUAL TO ONE-SIX-
TIETH OF SUCH MEMBER'S FINAL AVERAGE SALARY FOR EACH YEAR OF CREDITABLE
SERVICE IN EXCESS OF TWENTY-FIVE YEARS BUT NOT IN EXCESS OF THIRTY
YEARS.
§ 2. Subdivision c of section 604 of the retirement and social securi-
ty law, as added by chapter 520 of the laws of 1988, is amended to read
as follows:
c. The early service retirement benefit for a member who is a
correction officer of the Westchester county correction department as
defined in section eighty-nine-e of this chapter shall be a pension
equal to one-fiftieth of final average salary times years of credited
service at the completion of twenty-five years of service as such
correction [officer, but not exceeding one-half of his or her] OFFICER'S
final average salary PLUS AN ADDITIONAL RETIREMENT ALLOWANCE EQUAL TO
ONE-SIXTIETH OF SUCH MEMBER'S FINAL AVERAGE SALARY FOR EACH YEAR OF
CREDITED SERVICE IN EXCESS OF TWENTY-FIVE YEARS BUT NOT IN EXCESS OF
THIRTY YEARS.
§ 3. All past service costs associated with implementing the
provisions of this act shall be borne by the county of Westchester and
may be amortized over a period of ten years.
§ 4. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, none
of the provisions of this act shall be subject to the appropriation
requirement of section 25 of the retirement and social security law.
§ 5. This act shall take effect immediately and shall apply to all
members that retire on or after such date.
FISCAL NOTE.--Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50:
This bill would modify the service retirement benefit for members of
the New York State and Local Employees' Retirement System employed by
Westchester County as correction officers. The modified service retire-
ment benefit will be one-half of final average salary (FAS) upon
completion of twenty-five years of creditable service with additional
sixtieths for each year of creditable service in excess of twenty-five
years but not in excess of thirty years. The current service retirement
benefit is one-half of FAS upon completion of twenty-five years of cred-
itable service.
If this bill is enacted during the 2024 legislative session, we antic-
ipate that there will be an increase of approximately $1.0 million in
the annual contributions of Westchester County for the fiscal year
ending March 31, 2025. In future years this cost will vary but is
expected to average 0.8% of affected salary annually.
In addition to the annual contributions discussed above, there will be
an immediate past service cost of approximately $11.6 million which will
be borne by Westchester County as a one-time payment. This estimate
assumes that payment will be made on February 1, 2025. If Westchester
County elects to amortize this cost over a 10-year period, the cost for
the first year including interest would be $1.49 million.
S. 6157--B 3
These estimated costs are based on 851 affected members employed by
Westchester County, with annual salary of approximately $104 million as
of March 31, 2023.
Summary of relevant resources:
Membership data as of March 31, 2023 was used in measuring the impact
of the proposed change, the same data used in the April 1, 2023 actuari-
al valuation. Distributions and other statistics can be found in the
2023 Report of the Actuary and the 2023 Annual Comprehensive Financial
Report.
The actuarial assumptions and methods used are described in the 2023
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, 2023
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 January 3, 2024, and intended for use only during
the 2024 Legislative Session, is Fiscal Note No. 2024-16, prepared by
the Actuary for the New York State and Local Retirement System.
