* § 445-d. Optional twenty-year/age fifty improved benefit retirement
program for Triborough bridge and tunnel members. a. Definitions. The
following words and phrases as used in this section shall have the
following meanings unless a different meaning is plainly required by the
context.

1. "Retirement system" shall mean the New York city employees'
retirement system.

2. "Triborough bridge and tunnel member" shall mean a member of the
retirement system who is subject to the provisions of this article, who
is employed by the Triborough bridge and tunnel authority as a bridge
and tunnel officer, sergeant, or lieutenant in a non-managerial position
and who has elected to contribute to the retirement system on the basis
of a minimum retirement period of twenty-year/age fifty of allowable
service rendered pursuant to the optional retirement provisions as set
forth in paragraph eight of this subdivision.

3. "Twenty-year/age fifty improved benefit retirement program" shall
mean all the terms and conditions of this section.

4. "Starting date of the twenty-year/age fifty improved benefit
retirement program" shall mean the date of enactment of the act which
added this section, as such date is certified pursuant to section
forty-one of the legislative law.

5. "Participant in the twenty-year/age fifty improved benefit
retirement program" shall mean any Triborough bridge and tunnel member
who, under the applicable provisions of subdivision b of this section,
is entitled to the rights, benefits and privileges and is subject to the
obligations of the twenty-year/age fifty improved benefit retirement
program, as applicable to him or her.

6. "Administrative code" shall mean the administrative code of the
city of New York.

7. "Accumulated deductions" shall mean accumulated deductions as
defined in subdivision eleven of section 13-101 of the administrative
code.

8. "Optional retirement provisions" shall mean the right to receive a
retirement allowance upon (a) the attainment of age fifty, and (b) the
completion of twenty years of service.

b. Election of twenty-year/age fifty improved benefit retirement
program. 1. Subject to the provisions of paragraph five of this
subdivision, any person who is a Triborough bridge and tunnel member on
the starting date of the twenty-year/age fifty improved benefit
retirement program may elect to become a participant in the
twenty-year/age fifty improved benefit retirement program by filing,
within one hundred eighty days after such starting date, a duly executed
application for such participation with the retirement system, provided
he or she is such a bridge and tunnel member on the date such
application is filed.

2. Subject to the provisions of paragraph five of this subdivision,
any person who becomes a Triborough bridge and tunnel member after the
starting date of the twenty-year/age fifty improved benefit retirement
program may elect to become a participant in the twenty-year/age fifty
improved benefit retirement program by filing, within one hundred eighty
days after becoming such a bridge and tunnel member, a duly executed
application for such participation with the retirement system, provided
he or she is such a bridge and tunnel member on the date such
application is filed.

3. Any election to be a participant in the twenty-year/age fifty
improved benefit retirement program shall be irrevocable.

4. Where any participant in the twenty-year/age fifty improved benefit
retirement program shall cease to hold a position in the Triborough
bridge and tunnel service, he or she shall cease to be such a
participant and, during any period in which such a person does not hold
such a bridge and tunnel position, he or she shall not be a participant
in the twenty-year/age fifty improved benefit retirement program and
shall not be eligible for the benefits of subdivision c of this section.

5. Where any participant in the twenty-year/age fifty improved benefit
retirement program terminates service in the Triborough bridge and
tunnel service and returns to such service as a bridge and tunnel member
at a later date, he or she shall again become such a participant on that
date.

c. Service retirement benefits. Notwithstanding any other provision of
law to the contrary, where a participant in the twenty-year/age fifty
improvement benefit retirement program, who is otherwise qualified for a
retirement allowance pursuant to the optional retirement provisions set
forth in subdivision a of this section, has made and/or paid, while he
or she is a Triborough bridge and tunnel member, all additional member
contributions and interest (if any) required by subdivision d of this
section, then:

1. that participant, while he or she remains a participant, shall not
be subject to the provisions of subdivision a of section four hundred
forty-five of this chapter; and

2. if that participant, while such a participant, retires from
service, he or she shall not be subject to the provisions of section
four hundred forty-four of this chapter; and

3. his or her retirement allowance shall be an amount, on account of
the required minimum period of service, equal to one-half of his or her
final average salary, plus an amount for each additional year of
allowable service, or fraction thereof, beyond such required minimum
period of service equal to one and one-half percent of his or her final
average salary; and

4. the maximum retirement benefit computed without optional
modification payable to that participant upon his or her retirement for
service as such a participant shall equal that payable upon completion
of thirty years of service.

d. Additional member contributions. 1. In addition to the member
contributions required pursuant to section 13-162 of the administrative
code, each participant in the twenty-year/age fifty improved benefit
retirement program in the rank of bridge and tunnel officer shall
contribute an additional five and fifty one-hundredths percent of his or
her compensation and each participant in the twenty-year/age fifty
retirement program in the rank of sergeant or lieutenant shall
contribute to the retirement system an additional six percent of his or
her compensation earned from all allowable service as a Triborough
bridge and tunnel member rendered on and after the date which is one
hundred eighty days prior to the starting date of the twenty-year/age
fifty improved benefit retirement program. A participant in the
twenty-year/age fifty improved benefit retirement program shall
contribute additional member contributions until the latest of (i) the
date as of which he or she is eligible to retire with twenty years of
creditable service in the Triborough bridge and tunnel authority under
such retirement program, (ii) the third anniversary of the starting date
of the twenty-year/age fifty improved benefit retirement program, or
(iii) the third anniversary of the date that he or she became a
participant in the twenty-year/age fifty improved benefit retirement
program.

2. Commencing with the first full payroll period after each person
becomes a participant in the twenty-year/age fifty improved benefit
retirement program, additional member contributions at the rate
specified in paragraph one of this subdivision shall be deducted
(subject to the applicable provisions of section 13-125.2 of the
administrative code of the city of New York) from the compensation of
such participant on each and every payroll of such participant for each
and every payroll period.

3. (i) Subject to the provisions of subparagraph (ii) of this
paragraph, where any additional member contributions required by
paragraph one of this subdivision are not paid by deductions from a
participant's compensation pursuant to paragraph two of this
subdivision:

(A) that participant shall be charged with a contribution deficiency
consisting of such unpaid amounts, together with interest thereon,
compounded annually; and

(B) such interest on each amount of undeducted contributions shall
accrue from the end of the payroll period for which such amount would
have been deducted from compensation if he or she had been a participant
at the beginning of that payroll period, until such amount is paid to
the retirement system; and

(C) the rate of interest to be applied to each such amount during the
period for which interest accrues on that amount shall be equal to the
rate or rates of interest required by law to be used during that same
period to credit interest on the accumulated deductions of retirement
system members.

(ii) Except as provided in subparagraph (iii) of this paragraph, no
interest shall be due on any unpaid additional contributions which are
not attributable to the period prior to the first full payroll period
referred to in paragraph two of this subdivision.

(iii) Should any person who, pursuant to paragraph seven of this
subdivision, has withdrawn any additional member contributions (and any
interest paid thereon) again become a participant in the twenty-year/age
fifty improved benefit retirement program pursuant to paragraph five of
subdivision b of this section, an appropriate amount shall be included
in such participant's contribution deficiency (including interest
thereon as calculated pursuant to subparagraph (i) of this paragraph) as
if such additional contributions had never been made.

(iv) Notwithstanding any other provisions of this paragraph, no
participant shall be charged interest for any period prior to March
twenty-fifth, nineteen hundred ninety-eight with respect to any
contributions owed with respect to any payroll period beginning prior to
such date.

4. The board of trustees of the retirement system may, consistent with
the provisions of this subdivision, promulgate regulations for the
payment of such additional member contributions, and any interest
thereon, by a participant in the twenty-year/age fifty improved benefit
retirement program (including the deduction of such contributions, and
any interest thereon, from his or her compensation).

5. Where a contribution deficiency chargeable to a participant
pursuant to paragraph three of this subdivision has not been paid in
full while the participant is a Triborough bridge and tunnel member,
that participant shall not be entitled to the benefits provided in
subdivision c of this section.

6. Where a participant has not paid in full any contribution
deficiency chargeable to him or her pursuant to paragraph three of this
subdivision, and a benefit, other than a refund of a member's
accumulated deductions or a refund of additional member contributions
pursuant to paragraph seven of this subdivision, becomes payable by the
retirement system to the participant or to his or her designated
beneficiary or estate, the actuarial equivalent of any such unpaid
amount shall be deducted from the benefit otherwise payable.

6-a. Notwithstanding paragraph five or six of this subdivision, where
a deficiency chargeable to a participant pursuant to paragraph three of
this subdivision has not been paid in full while the participant is a
Triborough bridge and tunnel member and such participant retires prior
to July first, two thousand seven, such participant may elect to be
covered by this paragraph. Such participant shall be entitled to the
benefits provided in subdivision c of this section provided that
participant authorizes the retirement system to deduct from such
benefits an amount which will result in the deficiency, plus associated
interest to date of final payment, being paid in full no later than July
first, two thousand seven or such earlier date as agreed to by the
participant. Such amount will be deducted in equal installments on a
monthly basis. Nothing in this paragraph shall prevent the participant
from making a partial payment of the amount of the deficiency at the
time of retirement so as to reduce the monthly payment nor to make a
lump sum payment equal to the amount of the total unpaid balance at any
time during the period of repayment.

7. (i) All additional member contributions required by this
subdivision (and any interest thereon) which are received by the
retirement system shall be paid into its contingent reserve fund and
shall be the property of the retirement system. Such additional member
contributions (and any interest thereon) shall not for any purpose be
deemed to be accumulated deductions of a member of the retirement system
while he or she is a participant in the twenty-year/age fifty improved
benefit retirement program or otherwise.

(ii) Should a participant in the twenty-year/age fifty improved
benefit retirement program, who has rendered less than fifteen years of
credited service cease to hold a position in such uniformed force for
any reason whatsoever, his or her accumulated additional member
contributions made pursuant to this subdivision (together with any
interest thereon paid to the retirement system) may be withdrawn by him
or her pursuant to procedures promulgated in regulations of the board of
trustees of the retirement system, together with interest thereon equal
to eight and one-quarter percent per annum, compounded annually.

(iii) Except as otherwise provided in subparagraph (ii) of this
paragraph, no member of the retirement system, while he or she is a
participant in such retirement program or otherwise, shall have a right
to withdraw such additional member contributions or any interest thereon
from the retirement system.

8. A member who has made the additional contributions specified by
this subdivision may borrow a portion of such contributions, pursuant to
the provisions of section six hundred thirteen-b of this chapter.

9. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, the
provisions of section one hundred thirty-eight-b of this chapter shall
not be applicable to the additional member contributions which are
required by this subdivision.

10. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, the
additional member contributions which are required by this subdivision
shall not be reduced under any program for increased-take-home-pay.

* NB There are 2 § 445-d's