Bill Text: NY A10316 | 2019-2020 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Authorizes the city of Cortland to offer an optional twenty year retirement plan to firefighter Travis Marshall, who, for reasons not ascribable to his own negligence, failed to make a timely application to participate in such plan previously established by the retirement and social security law.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Passed) 2020-11-11 - signed chap.264 [A10316 Detail]

Download: New_York-2019-A10316-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                          10316

                   IN ASSEMBLY

                                     April 22, 2020
                                       ___________

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

        AN  ACT  to authorize the city of Cortland, in the county of Cortland to
          offer an optional twenty-year retirement plan  to  firefighter  Travis
          Marshall

          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 Cortland, in the county of Cortland, 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 firefighters employed by such city, is  hereby  author-
     7  ized  to make participation in such plan available to Travis Marshall, a
     8  firefighter employed by the city  of  Cortland,  who,  for  reasons  not
     9  ascribable to his own negligence, failed to make a timely application to
    10  participate  in  such  optional twenty-year retirement plan. The city of
    11  Cortland may so elect by filing with the state  comptroller,  within  12
    12  months of the effective date of this act, a resolution of its own common
    13  council  together  with  certification that such firefighter did not bar
    14  himself from participation in such retirement plan as a  result  of  his
    15  own negligence.  Thereafter, such firefighter may elect to be covered by
    16  the  provisions  of  section 384-d of the retirement and social security
    17  law, and shall be entitled to the full rights  and  benefits  associated
    18  with  coverage  under  such  section, by filing a request to that effect
    19  with the state comptroller within 6 months of  the  city  of  Cortland's
    20  filing.
    21    §  2.  All  past  costs associated with implementing the provisions of
    22  this act shall be borne by the city of Cortland, and  may  be  amortized
    23  over a period of ten years.
    24    § 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.
                                                                   LBD15532-02-0
        A. 10316                            2

          This  bill  would  allow  the  City of Cortland to elect to reopen the
        provisions of Section 384-d of the Retirement and  Social  Security  Law
        for firefighter Travis Marshall.
          If this bill is enacted during the 2020 legislative session and Travis
        Marshall  becomes  covered  under  the  provisions  of Section 384-d, we
        anticipate that there will be an increase of approximately $2,600 in the
        annual contributions of the City of Cortland for the fiscal year  ending
        March  31,  2021.  In  future  years, this cost will vary as the billing
        rates and salary of Travis Marshall change.
          In addition to the annual contributions discussed above, there will be
        an immediate past service cost of $13,600, which will be  borne  by  the
        City  of  Cortland  as a one-time payment. This estimate is based on the
        assumption that payment will be made on February 1, 2021. If the City of
        Cortland elects to amortize this cost over a 10 year  period,  the  cost
        for the first year would be $1,790.
          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, 2019  actuarial  valu-
        ation.    Distributions  and  other  statistics can be found in the 2019
        Report of the  Actuary  and  the  2019  Comprehensive  Annual  Financial
        Report.
          The  actuarial assumptions and methods used are described in the 2015,
        2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019 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, 2019
        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 March 12, 2020, and intended for use only  during
        the  2020  Legislative  Session, is Fiscal Note No. 2020-82, prepared by
        the Actuary for the New York State and Local Retirement System.