Bill Text: NY A06314 | 2019-2020 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Authorizes Morgan McDole, Baraaka J. Titus and David Dunlap, firefighters in the City of Syracuse Fire Department, in the county of Onondaga, to elect to participate in an optional 20 year retirement program.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Passed) 2019-10-04 - SIGNED CHAP.353 [A06314 Detail]

Download: New_York-2019-A06314-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________
                                          6314
                               2019-2020 Regular Sessions
                   IN ASSEMBLY
                                      March 5, 2019
                                       ___________
        Introduced by M. of A. HUNTER -- read once and referred to the Committee
          on Governmental Employees
        AN ACT to authorize Morgan McDole, Baraaka J. Titus and David Dunlap, to
          elect  to  participate in the optional twenty year retirement plan for
          firefighters employed by the City of Syracuse Fire Department  in  the
          county of Onondaga
          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 Fire Department,  in  the  county  of  Onondaga,  a
     3  participating  employer  in the New York state and local police and fire
     4  retirement system, which previously elected to offer the optional twenty
     5  year retirement plan, established  pursuant  to  section  384-d  of  the
     6  retirement  and  social  security  law, to firefighters employed by such
     7  fire district, is hereby authorized to make participation in  such  plan
     8  available  to  Morgan  McDole,  Baraaka J. Titus and David Dunlap; fire-
     9  fighters employed by such fire department, who, for reasons not ascriba-
    10  ble to their own negligence, failed to  make  a  timely  application  to
    11  participate  in  such  optional twenty year retirement plan. Thereafter,
    12  Morgan McDole, Baraaka J. Titus and David Dunlap may elect to be covered
    13  by the provisions of section 384-d of the retirement and social security
    14  law, and shall be entitled to the full rights  and  benefits  associated
    15  with  coverage  under  such  section, by filing a request to that effect
    16  with the state comptroller within six months from the effective date  of
    17  this act.
    18    §   2.  All  past  service  costs  associated  with  implementing  the
    19  provisions of this act shall be borne  by  the  City  of  Syracuse  Fire
    20  Department and may be amortized over a period of ten years.
    21    §  3. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, this
    22  act shall be contingent upon the City of Syracuse Fire Department  Board
    23  of  Fire  Commissioners passing a resolution requesting the enactment of
         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD07045-04-9
        A. 6314                             2
     1  this legislation and providing copies of such resolution to  each  house
     2  of the legislature.
     3    § 4. This act shall take effect immediately.
          FISCAL NOTE.--Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50:
          This bill would allow the City of Syracuse to reopen the provisions of
        Section 384-d of the Retirement and Social Security Law for firefighters
        Morgan McDole, Baraaka J. Titus and David Dunlap.
          If  this bill is enacted during the 2019 legislative session and these
        members become covered under the provisions of Section 384-d, we  antic-
        ipate  that  there  will  be an increase of approximately $21,000 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 these members change.
          In addition to the annual contributions discussed above, there will be
        an immediate past service cost of $339,000 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. If the City of
        Syracuse elects to amortize this cost over a 10 year  period,  the  cost
        for the first year would be $45,100.
          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  February  26,  2019, and intended for use only
        during the  2019  Legislative  Session,  is  Fiscal  Note  No.  2019-84,
        prepared  by  the  Actuary  for  the New York State and Local Retirement
        System.