Bill Text: NY A07890 | 2019-2020 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Authorizes the city of Syracuse to offer an optional twenty year retirement program to police officer Thomas R. Nicolini.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Passed) 2019-09-13 - SIGNED CHAP.304 [A07890 Detail]

Download: New_York-2019-A07890-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                          7890

                               2019-2020 Regular Sessions

                   IN ASSEMBLY

                                      May 28, 2019
                                       ___________

        Introduced by M. of A. HUNTER -- read once and referred to the Committee
          on Governmental Employees

        AN  ACT  to authorize the city of Syracuse, in the county of Onondaga to
          offer an optional twenty year retirement plan to police officer Thomas
          R.  Nicolini

          The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and  Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:

     1    Section 1. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary,
     2  the city of Syracuse, in the county of Onondaga, a participating employ-
     3  er  in  the  New York state and local police and fire retirement system,
     4  which previously elected to offer the optional  twenty  year  retirement
     5  plan, established pursuant to section 384-d of the retirement and social
     6  security  law,  to  police  officers  employed  by  such town, is hereby
     7  authorized to make participation in such plan  available  to  Thomas  R.
     8  Nicolini, a police officer employed by the city of Syracuse with a start
     9  date of July 23, 1999, who, for reasons not ascribable to his own negli-
    10  gence,  failed  to  make  a  timely  application  to participate in such
    11  optional twenty year retirement plan. The city of Syracuse may so  elect
    12  by  filing with the state comptroller, within six months from the effec-
    13  tive date of this act, a resolution of  its  town  board  together  with
    14  certification  that such police officer did not bar himself from partic-
    15  ipation in such retirement plan as a result of his own negligence. Ther-
    16  eafter, such police officer may elect to be covered by the provisions of
    17  section 384-d of the retirement and social security law,  and  shall  be
    18  entitled  to the full rights and benefits associated with coverage under
    19  such section, by filing a request to that effect with  the  state  comp-
    20  troller within six months from the effective date of such resolution.
    21    §  2.  All  past  costs associated with implementing the provisions of
    22  this act shall be borne by the city of Syracuse.
    23    § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
          FISCAL NOTE.--Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50:

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD11463-03-9
        A. 7890                             2

          This bill will allow the City of  Syracuse  to  elect  to  reopen  the
        provisions  of  Section  384-d of the Retirement and Social Security Law
        for police officer Thomas R. Nicolini.
          If this bill is enacted during the 2019 legislative session, we antic-
        ipate  that  there  will  be  an increase of approximately $9,500 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 Officer Nicolini change.
          In addition to the annual contributions discussed above, there will be
        an immediate past service cost of approximately $384,000 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.
          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 May 15, 2019, and intended for  use  only  during
        the  2019  Legislative Session, is Fiscal Note No. 2019-110, prepared by
        the Actuary for the New York State and Local Retirement System.