Bill Text: NY S06157 | 2023-2024 | General Assembly | Amended
Bill Title: Provides additional benefits for certain county correction officers in Westchester county; provides benefits to retirement system members with credited service in excess of twenty-five years.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 3-0)
Status: (Introduced) 2024-03-18 - RECOMMIT, ENACTING CLAUSE STRICKEN [S06157 Detail]
Download: New_York-2023-S06157-Amended.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 6157--B 2023-2024 Regular Sessions IN SENATE 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: 1 Section 1. Subdivisions c and f of section 89-e of the retirement and 2 social security law, as added by chapter 520 of the laws of 1988, are 3 amended to read as follows: 4 c. Upon completion of twenty-five years of such service and upon 5 retirement, each such member shall receive a pension which, together 6 with an annuity which shall be the actuarial equivalent of [his] such 7 member's accumulated contributions at the time of [his] such member's 8 retirement and an additional pension which is the actuarial equivalent 9 of the [reserved-for-increased-take-home-pay] reserve-for-increased- 10 take-home-pay to which [he] such member may then be entitled shall be 11 sufficient to provide [him] such member with a retirement allowance 12 equal to one-half of [his] such member's final average salary, provided 13 however that a member with credited service in excess of twenty-five 14 years shall receive an additional retirement allowance equal to one-six- 15 tieth of such member's final average salary for each year of creditable 16 service in excess of twenty-five years but not in excess of thirty 17 years. 18 f. A member contributing on the basis of this section at the time of 19 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. LBD10299-05-4S. 6157--B 2 1 of total creditable service. Application therefor may be filed in a 2 manner similar to that provided in section seventy of this article. Upon 3 completion of at least twenty-five years of such service and upon 4 retirement, each such member shall receive a pension which, together 5 with an annuity which shall be the actuarial equivalent of [his] such 6 member's accumulated contributions at the time of [his] such member's 7 retirement and an additional pension which is the actuarial equivalent 8 of the reserve-for-increased-take-home-pay to which [he] such member may 9 then be entitled shall be sufficient to provide [him] such member with 10 a retirement allowance equal to one-half of [his] such member's final 11 average salary plus an additional retirement allowance equal to one-six- 12 tieth of such member's final average salary for each year of creditable 13 service in excess of twenty-five years but not in excess of thirty 14 years. 15 § 2. Subdivision c of section 604 of the retirement and social securi- 16 ty law, as added by chapter 520 of the laws of 1988, is amended to read 17 as follows: 18 c. The early service retirement benefit for a member who is a 19 correction officer of the Westchester county correction department as 20 defined in section eighty-nine-e of this chapter shall be a pension 21 equal to one-fiftieth of final average salary times years of credited 22 service at the completion of twenty-five years of service as such 23 correction [officer, but not exceeding one-half of his or her] officer's 24 final average salary plus an additional retirement allowance equal to 25 one-sixtieth of such member's final average salary for each year of 26 credited service in excess of twenty-five years but not in excess of 27 thirty years. 28 § 3. All past service costs associated with implementing the 29 provisions of this act shall be borne by the county of Westchester and 30 may be amortized over a period of ten years. 31 § 4. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, none 32 of the provisions of this act shall be subject to the appropriation 33 requirement of section 25 of the retirement and social security law. 34 § 5. This act shall take effect immediately and shall apply to all 35 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.
