Provides additional benefits for certain county correction officers in Suffolk county; provides benefits to retirement system members with credited service of thirty years.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A6508B
SPONSOR: Pheffer Amato TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the retirement and social security law, in relation to
the retirement of county correction officers in Suffolk county
PURPOSE:
This bill provides additional retirement benefits for Suffolk County
correction officers of 1/60th their final average salary each year of
creditable service after 25 years of service but not in excess of 30
years of service.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1 amends subdivisions c and g of Section 89-G of the Retirement
and Social Security Law to provide additional retirement benefits for
Suffolk County correction officers equal to 1/60th of their final aver-
age salary each year of creditable service after 25 years of service but
not in excess of 30 years of service.
Section 2 amends subdivision d of Section 604 of the Retirement and
Social Security Law to provide additional retirement benefits for
Suffolk County correction officers equal to 1/60th of their final aver-
age salary each year of creditable service after 25 years of service but
not in excess of 30 years of service.
Section 3 states that all past service costs associated with implement-
ing the provisions of this act shall be borne by the county of Suffolk
and may be amortized over a period of ten years.
Section 4 states that none of the provisions of this act shall be
subject to the appropriation requirement of Section 25 of the Retirement
and Social Security Law.
Section 5 is the effective date.
JUSTIFICATION:
The corrections sector relies on experienced staff for professional
operations. Currently, they are facing vast staffing challenges with the
recruitment and retention of personnel. Corrections is seeing an exodus
of senior staff after their completion of twenty-five years of credita-
ble service. If enacted, this bill would provide the incentive for expe-
rienced staff to remain in service, helping to eliminate staffing chal-
lenges and aid in retaining experienced and qualified personnel.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
New bill.
STATE AND LOCAL FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
See fiscal note.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately and shall apply to all members
that retire on or after such date.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
6508--B
2023-2024 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
April 12, 2023
___________
Introduced by M. of A. PHEFFER AMATO -- read once and referred to the
Committee on Governmental Employees -- recommitted to the Committee on
Governmental Employees in accordance with Assembly Rule 3, sec. 2 --
committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and
recommitted to said committee -- again reported from said committee
with amendments, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said
committee
AN ACT to amend the retirement and social security law, in relation to
the retirement of county correction officers in Suffolk county
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subdivisions c, g and h of section 89-f of the retirement
2 and social security law, as added by chapter 591 of the laws of 1988,
3 and such section as renumbered by chapter 771 of the laws of 1988,
4 subdivisions g and h as relettered by chapter 543 of the laws of 1992,
5 are amended to read as follows:
6 c. (1) Upon completion of twenty-five years of such service and upon
7 retirement, each such member shall receive a pension which, together
8 with an annuity which shall be the actuarial equivalent of [his] such
9 member's accumulated contributions at the time of [his] such member's
10 retirement and an additional pension which is the actuarial equivalent
11 of the reserved-for-increased-take-home-pay to which [he] such member
12 may then be entitled shall be sufficient to provide [him] such member
13 with a retirement allowance equal to one-half of [his] such member's
14 final average salary.
15 (2) Upon completion of thirty years of such service and upon retire-
16 ment, each such member shall receive a pension which, together with an
17 annuity which shall be the actuarial equivalent of such member's accumu-
18 lated contributions at the time of such member's retirement and an addi-
19 tional pension which is the actuarial equivalent of the reserved-for-in-
20 creased-take-home-pay to which such member may then be entitled shall be
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD10296-14-4
A. 6508--B 2
1 sufficient to provide such member with a retirement allowance equal to
2 sixty percent of such member's final average salary.
3 g. A member contributing on the basis of this section at the time of
4 retirement, shall retire after the completion of twenty-five years or
5 thirty years of total creditable service. Application therefor may be
6 filed in a manner similar to that provided in section seventy of this
7 article. Upon completion of twenty-five years or thirty years of such
8 service and upon retirement, each such member shall receive a pension
9 which, together with an annuity which shall be the actuarial equivalent
10 of [his] such member's accumulated contributions at the time of [his]
11 such member's retirement and an additional pension which is the actuari-
12 al equivalent of the reserve-for-increased-take-home-pay to which [he]
13 such member may then be entitled shall be sufficient to provide [him]
14 such member with a retirement allowance equal to one-half of [his] such
15 member's final average salary for a member retiring after the completion
16 of twenty-five years, or a retirement allowance equal to sixty percent
17 of such member's final average salary for a member retiring after the
18 completion of thirty years.
19 h. In computing the twenty-five years or thirty years of total service
20 of a member pursuant to this section full credit shall be given and full
21 allowance shall be made for service of such member in time of war after
22 World War I as defined in section two of this chapter, provided such
23 member at the time of [his] such member's entrance into the armed forces
24 was in the service of the county of Suffolk.
25 § 2. Subdivision d of section 604 of the retirement and social secu-
26 rity law, as amended by chapter 771 of the laws of 1988, is amended to
27 read as follows:
28 d. 1. The early service retirement for a member who is employed in
29 Suffolk county as a correction officer as defined in section eighty-
30 nine-f of this chapter, shall be a pension equal to one-fiftieth of
31 final average salary times years of credited service at the completion
32 of twenty-five years of service as such correction officer, but not
33 exceeding one-half of [his or her] such member's final average salary.
34 2. The early service retirement for a member who is employed in
35 Suffolk county as a correction officer as defined in section eighty-
36 nine-f of this chapter, shall be a pension equal to one-fiftieth of
37 final average salary times years of credited service at the completion
38 of thirty years of service as such correction officer, but not exceeding
39 sixty percent of such member's final average salary.
40 § 3. All past service costs associated with implementing the
41 provisions of this act shall be borne by the county of Suffolk and may
42 be amortized over a period of ten years.
43 § 4. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, none
44 of the provisions of this act shall be subject to the appropriation
45 requirement of section 25 of the retirement and social security law.
46 § 5. This act shall take effect immediately and shall apply to all
47 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
Suffolk County as correction officers. The modified service retirement
benefit will be one-half of final average salary (FAS) upon completion
of twenty-five years of creditable service and sixty percent of FAS upon
completion of thirty years of creditable service. The current service
retirement benefit is one-half of FAS upon completion of twenty-five
years of creditable service.
A. 6508--B 3
If this bill is enacted during the 2024 Legislative Session, we antic-
ipate that there will be an increase of approximately $440,000 in the
annual contributions of Suffolk County for the fiscal year ending March
31, 2025. In future years this cost will vary but is expected to average
0.3% of salary annually.
In addition to the annual contributions discussed above, there will be
an immediate past service cost of approximately $5.5 million which will
be borne by Suffolk County as a one-time payment. This estimate assumes
that payment will be made on February 1, 2025. If Suffolk County elects
to amortize this cost over a 10-year period, the cost for each year
including interest would be $702,000.
These estimated costs are based on 843 affected members employed by
Suffolk County, with annual salary of approximately $115 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 March 8, 2024, and intended for use only during
the 2024 Legislative Session, is Fiscal Note No. 2024-106, prepared by
the Actuary for the New York State and Local Retirement System.
