Bill Text: NY A07326 | 2015-2016 | General Assembly | Introduced
Bill Title: Authorizes Robert Cosenza to apply for Tier II pension benefits in the New York city employees' retirement system.
Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2016-01-06 - referred to governmental employees [A07326 Detail]
Download: New_York-2015-A07326-Introduced.html
S T A T E O F N E W Y O R K
________________________________________________________________________
7326
2015-2016 Regular Sessions
I N A S S E M B L Y
May 6, 2015
___________
Introduced by M. of A. HEVESI -- read once and referred to the Committee
on Governmental Employees
AN ACT authorizing Robert Cosenza to apply for Tier II pension benefits
in the New York city employees' retirement system
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 Robert Cosenza, who joined the New York city employees' retirement
3 system as a Tier II, Plan C member on April 24, 1974 and then left city
4 service on October 23, 2000, who for reasons not ascribable to his own
5 negligence, failed to timely file the appropriate form to withdraw from
6 Plan C and enter Plan D to become eligible for a vested retirement plan,
7 shall be deemed to have timely filed his withdrawal form and have
8 entered Plan D, if on or before December 31, 2015 he shall file an
9 application therefor with the New York city employees' retirement
10 system.
11 S 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
FISCAL NOTE.--Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50:
PROVISIONS OF PROPOSED LEGISLATION: The proposed legislation would
authorize the New York City Employees' Retirement System ("NYCERS") to
accept an application from Robert Cosenza to switch from the Modified
Career Pension Plan ("Plan C") to the Modified 55-Year Increased Service
Fractional Plan ("Plan D").
BACKGROUND: Mr. Cosenza became a Tier II member of NYCERS on April 24,
1974 and elected to participate in NYCERS Plan C.
Administrative Code of the City of New York ("ACNY") Section 13-173
provides that an individual must be a member of Plan D at the time of
discontinuance from city-service in order to be eligible for a vested
benefit under Plan D. Since Mr. Cosenza never filed the appropriate form
to withdraw from Plan C and switch to Plan D, he is not eligible for a
vested benefit and he is only eligible to receive a return of his accu-
EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD08435-02-5
A. 7326 2
mulated member contributions which have been paid to him in a check
dated March 22, 2007.
The proposed legislation, if enacted, would authorize NYCERS to accept
an application from Mr. Cosenza on or before December 31, 2015 to switch
from Plan C to Plan D as if it had been filed prior to his date of
resignation.
The Effective Date of the proposed legislation would be the Date of
Enactment.
FINANCIAL IMPACT - ACTUARIAL PRESENT VALUES: The estimated financial
impact has been calculated as the sum of (1) the prospective benefits
plus (2) the retroactive benefits Mr. Cosenza would receive if this
proposed legislation were enacted.
If the legislation were to be enacted, Mr. Cosenza would be entitled
to a pension of approximately $21,000 per year beginning September 7,
2014 (age 62) under the maximum payout option. If the legislation were
not enacted, Mr. Cosenza would only be entitled to a refund of his accu-
mulated member contributions which he has already received.
Based on the actuarial assumptions and methods described herein, the
enactment of this proposed legislation would increase the Actuarial
Present Value ("APV") of Benefits ("APVB") and the Unfunded Actuarial
Accrued Liability ("UAAL") of NYCERS by approximately $250,000 as of
June 30, 2015, calculated as (1) plus (2);
(1) APV of future pension payments beginning July 2015 of approximate-
ly $233,000.
(2) Accumulated value of retroactive pension payments from September
2014 through June 2015 of approximately $17,000.
FINANCIAL IMPACT - ANNUAL EMPLOYER CONTRIBUTIONS AND ANNUAL EMPLOYER
COSTS: In accordance with Section 13.638.2(k-2) of the Administrative
Code of the City of New York ("ACNY"), new UAAL attributable to benefit
changes are to be amortized as determined by the Actuary but generally
over the remaining working lifetime of those impacted by the benefit
changes.
For this proposed legislation, Mr. Cosenza is inactive and therefore
the entire increase in UAAL as of June 30, 2015 of $250,000 based on the
Actuary's current actuarial assumptions and methods should be recognized
in the first year for contribution purposes.
The increase in employer costs would be comparable to the increase in
employer contributions.
CONTRIBUTION TIMING: If enacted during the 2015 Legislative Session
and if his application for switching to Plan D were filed on or before
June 30, 2015, his status as a Plan D Retiree would likely first be
reflected in the June 30, 2015 census data. In accordance with the One-
Year Lag methodology used to determine employer contributions, increased
employer contributions would be consistent with the increased employer
costs and would be determined for Fiscal Year 2017.
If enacted during the 2015 Legislative Session, and if his application
for switching to Plan D were filed after June 30, 2015 but on or before
June 30, 2016, his status as a Plan D Retiree would likely first be
reflected in the June 30, 2016 census data and increased employer
contributions would be determined for Fiscal Year 2018.
ACTUARIAL ASSUMPTIONS AND METHODS: The additional APVB and UAAL
presented herein have been calculated based on the actuarial assumptions
and methods in effect for the June 30, 2013 (Lag) actuarial valuations
used to determine Fiscal Year 2015 employer contributions of NYCERS.
ECONOMIC VALUES OF BENEFITS: The actuarial assumptions used to deter-
mine the financial impact of the proposed legislation discussed in this
A. 7326 3
Fiscal Note are those appropriate for budgetary models and determining
annual employer contributions to NYCERS.
However, the economic assumptions that are used for determining
employer contributions do not develop risk-adjusted, economic values of
benefits. Such risk-adjusted, economic values of benefits would likely
differ significantly from those developed by the budgetary models.
STATEMENT OF ACTUARIAL OPINION: I, Robert C. North, Jr., am the Acting
Chief Actuary for the New York City Retirement Systems. I am a Fellow of
the Society of Actuaries and a Member of the American Academy of Actuar-
ies. I meet the Qualification Standards of the American Academy of Actu-
aries to render the actuarial opinion contained herein.
FISCAL NOTE IDENTIFICATION: This estimate is intended for use only
during the 2015 Legislative Session. It is Fiscal Note 2015-22, dated
April 22, 2015 prepared by the Acting Chief Actuary for the New York
City Employees' Retirement System.
