S T A T E O F N E W Y O R K
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6159
2023-2024 Regular Sessions
I N S E N A T E
March 31, 2023
___________
Introduced by Sen. JACKSON -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Civil Service and Pensions
AN ACT to amend the retirement and social security law, in relation to
retirement of county correction officers, uniformed correction divi-
sion personnel, sheriffs, deputy sheriffs and undersheriffs in Nassau
county
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
Section 1. Subdivisions c and g of section 89-g of the retirement and
social security law, as added by chapter 653 of the laws of 1988, such
section as renumbered by chapter 771 of the laws of 1988, is 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 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-SIXTIETH OF SUCH MEMBER'S FINAL AVER-
AGE SALARY FOR EACH YEAR OF CREDITABLE SERVICE IN EXCESS OF TWENTY-FIVE
YEARS BUT NOT IN EXCESS OF THIRTY YEARS.
g. A member, contributing on the basis of this section at the time of
retirement, [shall] MAY retire after the completion of twenty-five years
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
EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD10387-02-3
S. 6159 2
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 e of section 604 of the retirement and social securi-
ty law, as amended by chapter 771 of the laws of 1988, is amended to
read as follows:
e. The early service retirement for a member who is employed in Nassau
county as a correction officer, uniformed correction division personnel,
sheriff, undersheriff or deputy sheriff, as defined in section eighty-
nine-g 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, uniformed
correction division personnel, sheriff, undersheriff or deputy sheriff[,
but not exceeding one-half of his or her] PLUS AN ADDITIONAL RETIREMENT
ALLOWANCE EQUAL TO ONE-SIXTIETH OF SUCH MEMBER'S final average salary
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 Nassau 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
Nassau County as (1) sheriffs, deputy sheriffs, or undersheriffs engaged
directly in criminal law enforcement activities, or (2) correction offi-
cers or uniformed correction division personnel. The modified service
retirement 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 2023 legislative session, we antic-
ipate that there will be an increase of approximately $740,000 in the
annual contributions of Nassau County for the fiscal year ending March
31, 2024. In future years, this cost will vary as the billing rates and
salary of the affected members change.
In addition to the annual contributions discussed above, there will be
an immediate past service cost of approximately $10.6 million which will
be borne by Nassau County as a one-time payment. This estimate assumes
that payment will be made on February 1, 2024. If Nassau County elects
to amortize this cost over a 10-year period, the cost for the first year
including interest would be $1.35 million.
S. 6159 3
These estimated costs are based on 738 affected members employed by
Nassau County, with annual salary of approximately $96.3 million as of
March 31, 2022.
Summary of relevant resources:
Membership data as of March 31, 2022 was used in measuring the impact
of the proposed change, the same data used in the April 1, 2022 actuari-
al valuation. Distributions and other statistics can be found in the
2022 Report of the Actuary and the 2022 Annual Comprehensive Financial
Report.
The actuarial assumptions and methods used are described in the 2020,
2021, and 2022 Annual Report to the Comptroller on Actuarial Assump-
tions, 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, 2022
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 March 30, 2023, and intended for use only during
the 2023 Legislative Session, is Fiscal Note No. 2023-127, prepared by
the Actuary for the New York State and Local Retirement System.
