STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
10164
IN ASSEMBLY
February 12, 2026
___________
Introduced by M. of A. PHEFFER AMATO -- read once and referred to the
Committee on Governmental Employees
AN ACT in relation to authorizing the county of Dutchess to offer an
optional twenty-five year retirement plan to certain deputy sheriffs
employed by such county
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, the
2 county of Dutchess, a participating employer in the New York state and
3 local retirement system that elected to make the twenty-five year
4 retirement plan provided in section 551 of the retirement and social
5 security law available to deputy sheriffs employed by the county of
6 Dutchess is hereby authorized to make such plan available to certain
7 deputy sheriffs who, for reasons not ascribable to their own negligence,
8 failed to make a timely application to participate in such twenty-five
9 year retirement plan. Such employees are Arthur Hart with a start date
10 of November 30, 1998, Stephen J Reverri Jr. with a start date of May 7,
11 2001, Robert M Freer II with a start date of November 5, 2001, Phillip
12 Lemere with a start date of December 3, 2001, Corey Ritch with a start
13 date of February 7, 2004, Dawn Bonds with a start date of February 9,
14 2004, Brian Wilber with a start date of October 12, 2004, Joel R Petrus
15 with a start date of July 11, 2005, Stephen Slattery with a start date
16 of July 11, 2005, Dominick Marcello with a start date of September 23,
17 2006, Ryan Griffin with a start date of May 7, 2007, Adam Harris with a
18 start date of May 7, 2007, Kate Capalbo with a start date of April 11,
19 2009, Jared T Griffin with a start date of May 9, 2009, Jeffrey Cohen
20 with a start date of March 31, 2012, Adrienne Licari with a start date
21 of July 2, 2012, William Butler with a start date of April 1, 2013,
22 Christopher Sheridan with a start date of October 21, 2013, Paul Digiov-
23 anni with a start date of April 28, 2014, Justin Hogan with a start date
24 of June 8, 2015, James Flanagan with a start date of February 29, 2016,
25 Kyle Esposito with a start date of September 19, 2016, Paul Reinheimer
26 with a start date of October 11, 2016, Christian Robillard with a start
27 date of May 1, 2017, Ryan Duval with a start date of January 2, 2018,
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD11927-08-6
A. 10164 2
1 Scott Haire with a start date of April 15, 2019, Timothy Stabell with a
2 start date of April 15, 2019, Michael Henry with a start date of May 16,
3 2019, Seth Thomas with a start date of February 24, 2020, Carl Short
4 with a start date of March 2, 2020, Brendan Harriott with a start date
5 of April 13, 2020, Amber Perrotta with a start date of October 5, 2020,
6 Ashley Stroka with a start date of March 22, 2021, Travis Beyea with a
7 start date of September 7, 2021, John Andersen with a start date of
8 March 21, 2022, Crystal Burnett with a start date of May 23, 2022,
9 Matthew Stafford with a start date of May 23, 2022, Philip Vallone with
10 a start date of May 23, 2022, Gabrielle Rocco with a start date of June
11 6, 2022, Hosanna Santo with a start date of June 27, 2022, Connor Carey
12 with a start date of July 5, 2022, D'Andre Barr with a start date of
13 February 27, 2023, Ryan Kozlowski with a start date of February 27,
14 2023, Dylan Merritt with a start date of August 28, 2023, Emily Abbatan-
15 tuono with a start date of August 28, 2023, John Carney with a start
16 date of December 30, 2023, Brian Santiago with a start date of January
17 16, 2024, Raymond Sherrer with a start date of March 4, 2024, Cody
18 Carufe with a start date of June 10, 2024 and Marcus Crixus with a start
19 date of August 12, 2024. The county of Dutchess may so elect by filing
20 with the state comptroller, on or before one hundred eighty days after
21 this act shall have become law, a resolution of its governing body
22 together with certification that such deputy sheriffs did not bar them-
23 selves from participating in the twenty-five year retirement plan
24 provided in section 551 of the retirement and social security law as a
25 result of their own negligence. Thereafter, such deputy sheriffs may
26 individually elect to be covered by the provisions of the twenty-five
27 year retirement plan provided in section 551 of the retirement and
28 social security law, and shall be entitled to the full rights and bene-
29 fits associated with coverage under such section, by filing an election
30 with the New York state and local retirement system within one year of
31 the effective date of this act.
32 § 2. To the extent practicable, the county of Dutchess shall provide a
33 link to an electronic version of the election form that can be down-
34 loaded and shall assist with outreach to ensure that the members have
35 been notified of their election option.
36 § 3. All employer past service costs associated with implementing the
37 provisions of this act shall be borne by the county of Dutchess and may
38 be amortized over a five-year period.
39 § 4. This act shall take effect immediately.
FISCAL NOTE.--Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50:
This bill would allow Dutchess county to reopen the provisions of
Article 14-B of the Retirement and Social Security Law (RSSL) to all
individuals named therein.
We estimate that Dutchess county's annual contributions will increase
$210,000 beginning FYE 2027. Annual costs will vary but are expected to
average 2.7% of salary.
In addition, there will be an immediate past service cost of $174,000
borne by Dutchess county as a one-time payment. This cost assumes that
payment will be made on February 1, 2027. If Dutchess county elects to
amortize this cost over 5 years, the cost for each year will be $38,800.
These estimated costs are based on 50 affected members employed by
Dutchess county, with annual salary of approximately $5.4 million as of
March 31, 2025.
Summary of relevant resources:
Membership data as of March 31, 2025 was used to measure the impact of
the bill, the same data used in the Actuarial Valuations dated April 1,
A. 10164 3
2025. Distributions and other statistics can be found in the 2025 Report
of the Actuary and the 2025 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report. The
actuarial assumptions and methods used are described in the 2025 Annual
Report to the Comptroller on Actuarial Assumptions, and the Codes, Rules
and Regulations of the State of New York: Audit and Control. The fair
value of assets and GASB disclosures can be found in the 2025 Financial
Statements and Supplementary Information.
Assumptions, demographics, and other considerations may have been
modified to better reflect specific provisions of any proposed benefit
change(s).
This fiscal note does not constitute a legal opinion on the viability
of the bill, nor is it intended to serve as a substitute for the profes-
sional judgment of an attorney.
This estimate, dated January 27, 2026, and intended for use only
during the 2026 Legislative Session, is Fiscal Note Number 2026-25. As
Chief Actuary of the New York State and Local Retirement System
(NYSLRS), I, Aaron Schottin Young, hereby certify that this analysis
complies with applicable Actuarial Standards of Practice as well as the
Code of Professional Conduct and Qualification Standards for Actuaries
Issuing Statements of Actuarial Opinion of the American Academy of Actu-
aries, of which I am a member. I am a member of NYSLRS but do not
believe it impairs my objectivity.
