§ 219-f. Contributions and benefits. 1. The sponsor of a service award
program shall contribute to the program a fixed amount of money, as
determined by the sponsor, on behalf of each participant who is credited
with a year of ambulance service. The minimum contribution shall be one
hundred twenty dollars per year of ambulance service. The maximum
contribution shall be twelve hundred dollars per year of ambulance
service.

2. A service award program may provide for contributions for ambulance
service rendered by a participant during one or more of the five
calendar years immediately preceding the year in which the program is
adopted, but only to the extent authorized pursuant to section two
hundred nineteen-d of this article. In order to determine eligibility
for such contributions, each ambulance company shall review its prior
membership rosters and service records to determine the number of years
for which each participant is entitled to a contribution. In making such
determination, the point system established pursuant to subdivision
three of section two hundred nineteen-e of this article shall be used.
The president, secretary and chief or comparable officers of the
ambulance company shall submit to the governing board of the sponsor a
certified list of participants who are entitled to such contributions
and the number of years for which each participant is entitled to a
contribution, and such membership and service records as the governing
board may require. The list shall be submitted to and approved by the
governing board, and posted by the ambulance company, at the same time
and in the same manner as provided in subdivisions nine through eleven
of section two hundred nineteen-e of this article, and each person named
on the list approved by the governing board shall be entitled to the
number of contributions indicated thereon. A person whose name does not
appear on the list as submitted to or approved by the governing board
shall have the administrative and judicial remedies set forth in
subdivision eleven of section two hundred nineteen-e of this article.

3. The maximum number of years for which a participant may receive a
contribution shall be forty years. The governing board of a political
subdivision may extend the maximum number of years of service for which
a participant may receive a contribution for up to an additional ten
years, to a maximum of fifty years, and such increases in the number of
years may be added in multiple increments or in a single action,
pursuant to the adoption of the required resolution or resolutions of
the governing board, receiving the affirmative vote of at least sixty
percent of the governing board of the political subdivision, and the
approval of any mandatory referendum or referenda authorizing the
extension of benefits under the program by eligible voters within such
political subdivision.

4. A service award shall be the amount resulting from the
contributions made by the sponsor on behalf of a participant less
necessary administrative costs and shall include interest and/or other
earnings resulting from investment of the contributions, determined as
of the valuation date or dates provided for in the program. Service
awards shall be paid in the form of a lump sum, a life annuity with or
without survivor benefits, a period certain annuity, or any other form
provided under the program, provided, that all forms of payment shall be
actuarially equivalent to each other. The program may limit the forms of
payment or impose conditions concerning the availability of a form of
payment.

5. Except as otherwise provided in this section, a participant shall
be entitled to apply for and receive a service award only when the
participant has acquired a nonforfeitable right to a service award and
has reached entitlement age.

6. In the event that a participant becomes totally and permanently
disabled, as certified by the workers' compensation board or other
competent authority approved by the administrator, and the disability
prevents the participant from pursuing his or her normal occupation, the
participant shall be entitled to apply for and receive a service award,
regardless of whether the participant has reached entitlement age or has
acquired a nonforfeitable right to a service award.

7. In the event of the death of a participant who has acquired a
nonforfeitable right to a service award and who has not previously
received all or a portion of a service award, the beneficiaries
designated by the participant or, if no beneficiaries have been so
designated, the participant's estate, shall be entitled to apply for and
receive the participant's service award, regardless of whether the
participant reached entitlement age before death.

8. A service award shall be paid only after an application is made to
the program administrator and the administrator approves the
application. In the event that a participant dies after receiving a
portion of a service award, the remaining portion, if any, shall be paid
in accordance with the terms and conditions of the form of payment
selected by the participant prior to death.

9. No service award may be assigned or alienated except to provide for
the legally obligated support of minor children or a spouse.

10. Payment of a service award shall not impair any rights of
volunteer ambulance workers under the volunteer ambulance workers'
benefit law or any other law.