Modifies the retirement benefits for certain county correction officers, uniformed correction division personnel, sheriffs, deputy sheriffs and undersheriffs in Nassau county to provide an additional retirement allowance for each year of creditable service in excess of twenty-five years but not in excess of thirty years.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A7257A
SPONSOR: Pheffer Amato TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the retirement and social security law, in relation to
retirement of county correction officers, uniformed correction division
personnel, sheriffs, deputy sheriffs and undersheriffs in Nassau county
PURPOSE:
This hill provides additional retirement benefits for Nassau 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
Nassau County correction officers equal to 1/60th of their final average
- salary each year of creditable service after 25.years of service but
not in excess of 30 years of service.
Section 2 amends subdivision e 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 Nassau
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:
Please 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
________________________________________________________________________
7257--A
2023-2024 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
May 16, 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
AN ACT to amend the retirement and social security law, in relation to
retirement of county correction officers, uniformed correction divi-
sion personnel, sheriffs, deputy sheriffs and undersheriffs in Nassau
county
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subdivisions c and g of section 89-g of the retirement and
2 social security law, as added by chapter 653 of the laws of 1988, such
3 section as renumbered by chapter 771 of the laws of 1988, are amended to
4 read as follows:
5 c. Upon completion of twenty-five years of such service and upon
6 retirement, each such member shall receive a pension which, together
7 with an annuity which shall be the actuarial equivalent of [his] such
8 member's accumulated contributions at the time of [his] such member's
9 retirement and an additional pension which is the actuarial equivalent
10 of the reserved-for-increased-take-home-pay to which [he] such member
11 may then be entitled shall be sufficient to provide [him] such member
12 with a retirement allowance equal to one-half of [his] such member's
13 final average salary, provided however that a member with credited
14 service in excess of twenty-five years shall receive an additional
15 retirement allowance equal to one-sixtieth of such member's final aver-
16 age salary for each year of creditable service in excess of twenty-five
17 years but not in excess of thirty years.
18 g. 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
20 of total creditable service. Application therefor may be filed in a
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD10387-04-4
A. 7257--A 2
1 manner similar to that provided in section seventy of this article. Upon
2 completion of at least twenty-five years of such service and upon
3 retirement, each such member shall receive a pension which, together
4 with an annuity which shall be the actuarial equivalent of [his] such
5 member's accumulated contributions at the time of [his] such member's
6 retirement and an additional pension which is the actuarial equivalent
7 of the reserve-for-increased-take-home-pay to which [he] such member may
8 then be entitled shall be sufficient to provide [him] such member with a
9 retirement allowance equal to one-half of [his] such member's final
10 average salary plus an additional retirement allowance equal to one-six-
11 tieth of such member's final average salary for each year of creditable
12 service in excess of twenty-five years but not in excess of thirty
13 years.
14 § 2. Subdivision e of section 604 of the retirement and social securi-
15 ty law, as amended by chapter 771 of the laws of 1988, is amended to
16 read as follows:
17 e. The early service retirement for a member who is employed in Nassau
18 county as a correction officer, uniformed correction division personnel,
19 sheriff, undersheriff or deputy sheriff, as defined in section eighty-
20 nine-g of this chapter, shall be a pension equal to one-fiftieth of
21 final average salary times years of credited service at the completion
22 of twenty-five years of service as such correction officer, uniformed
23 correction division personnel, sheriff, undersheriff or deputy sheriff[,
24 but not exceeding one-half of his or her] plus an additional retirement
25 allowance equal to one-sixtieth of such member's final average salary
26 each year of credited service in excess of twenty-five years but not in
27 excess of thirty years.
28 § 3. All past service costs associated with implementing the
29 provisions of this act shall be borne by the county of Nassau and may be
30 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
Nassau County as (1) sheriffs, deputy sheriffs, or undersheriffs engaged
directly in criminal law enforcement activities, or (2) correction offi-
cers or uniformed correction division personnel. The modified service
retirement 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 $780,000 in the
annual contributions of Nassau County for the fiscal year ending March
31, 2025. In future years this cost will vary but is expected to average
0.7% of affected salary annually.
In addition to the annual contributions discussed above, there will be
an immediate past service cost of approximately $10.5 million which will
be borne by Nassau County as a one-time payment. This estimate assumes
that payment will be made on February 1, 2025. If Nassau County elects
A. 7257--A 3
to amortize this cost over a 10-year period, the cost for the first year
including interest would be $1.35 million.
These estimated costs are based on 752 affected members employed by
Nassau County, with annual salary of approximately $94.2 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. 2024-17, prepared by
the Actuary for the New York State and Local Retirement System.
