Grants retroactive Tier IV membership in the New York city teachers' retirement system to certain employees employed by the city of Yonkers parks department for the period beginning in 2009 and ending in 2014.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
8579--A
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
May 21, 2025
___________
Introduced by M. of A. TANNOUSIS -- 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 granting retroactive Tier IV membership in the New York city
teachers' retirement system to certain employees
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, any person, who
2 is currently employed by the New York city department of education and a
3 member of the New York city teachers' retirement system, and who was
4 employed by the city of Yonkers parks department for the period begin-
5 ning in 2009 and ending in 2014, and who, for reasons not ascribable to
6 their own negligence, failed to become a member of the New York state
7 and local employees' retirement system during such employment with the
8 city of Yonkers parks department in 2009, shall be granted service cred-
9 it in the New York city teachers' retirement system for their employment
10 with the city of Yonkers parks department for the period beginning in
11 2009 and ending in 2014 and shall be granted Tier IV status in such
12 retirement system, provided that an application is filed with the head
13 of the New York city teachers' retirement system within one year from
14 the effective date of this act.
15 § 2. All past service costs associated with the implementation of this
16 act shall be borne by the city of New York.
17 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
FISCAL NOTE.--Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50:
Allow Certain TRS Members to Reinstate Tier 4 Membership
SUMMARY: This proposed legislation would permit active members of the
New York City Teachers' Retirement System (TRS) who were employed by the
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD09807-05-6
A. 8579--A 2
City of Yonkers Parks Department for a defined period to purchase
service and to elect, by filing an application with TRS within one year
of the effective date, retroactive membership in Tier 4.
EXPECTED INCREASE (DECREASE) IN EMPLOYER CONTRIBUTIONS
by Fiscal Year for the first 25 years ($)
Year TRS
2027 0
2028 19,200
2029 19,400
2030 19,600
2031 19,900
2032 20,200
2033 20,600
2034 20,800
2035 21,000
2036 21,300
2037 21,900
2038 22,600
2039 23,100
2040 23,600
2041 23,900
2042 24,300
2043 24,700
2044 24,900
2045 10,900
2046 6,600
2047 2,600
2048 (600)
2049 (3,100)
2050 (4,900)
2051 (6,200)
Employer Contribution impact beyond Fiscal Year 2051 is not shown.
The entire increase (decrease) in employer contributions will be allo-
cated to New York City.
PRESENT VALUE OF BENEFITS: The Present Value of Benefits is the
discounted expected value of benefits paid to current members if all
assumptions are met, including future service accrual and pay increases.
Future new hires are not included in this present value.
INITIAL INCREASE (DECREASE) IN ACTUARIAL PRESENT VALUES
as of June 30, 2026 ($)
Present Value (PV) TRS
(1) PV of Employer Contributions: 199,000
(2) PV of Employee Contributions: (95,000)
Total PV of Benefits (1) + (2): 104,000
UNFUNDED ACCRUED LIABILITY (UAL): Actuarial Accrued Liabilities are
the portion of the Present Value of Benefits allocated to past service.
Changes in UAL were amortized over the expected remaining working life-
time of those impacted using level dollar payments.
AMORTIZATION OF UNFUNDED ACCRUED LIABILITY
A. 8579--A 3
TRS
Increase (Decrease) in UAL: 112,000
Number of Payments: 17
Amortization Payment: 12,000
CENSUS DATA: The estimates presented herein are based on one member
who was specifically identified as being impacted by this proposed
legislation, with the preliminary census data collected for this member
as of June 30, 2025 summarized below. However, the actual number of
members who may benefit from this proposed legislation is unknown.
TRS
Active Members
- Number Count: 1
- Average Age: 38.0
- Average Service: 9.0
- Average Salary: 110,000
BACKGROUND: The proposed legislation would apply to TRS members
currently employed by the New York City Department of Education, who
were employed by the City of Yonkers Parks Department for the period
beginning in 2009 and ending in 2014 and did not join the New York State
and Local Employees' Retirement System during such employment.
Under this proposed legislation, such members would receive service
credit in TRS for their employment with the Yonkers Parks Department and
would be granted retroactive Tier 4 membership. A change from Tier 6 to
Tier 4 would result in an earlier date of service retirement eligibil-
ity, lower overall employee contribution rates, and a larger pension
benefit.
ASSUMPTIONS AND METHODS: The estimates presented herein have been
calculated based on the Revised 2021 Actuarial Assumptions and Methods
of the impacted retirement systems.
For purposes of this Fiscal Note, it was assumed that members will get
a refund of past Tier 6 contributions that exceeded their applicable
Tier 4 contribution rate.
RISK AND UNCERTAINTY: The costs presented in this Fiscal Note depend
highly on the actuarial assumptions, methods, and models used, demo-
graphics of the impacted population, and other factors such as invest-
ment, contribution, and other risks. If actual experience deviates from
actuarial assumptions, the actual costs could differ from those
presented herein. Quantifying these risks is beyond the scope of this
Fiscal Note.
This Fiscal Note is intended to measure pension-related impacts and
does not include other potential costs (e.g., administrative and Other
Postemployment Benefits). This Fiscal Note does not reflect any chapter
laws that may have been enacted during the current legislative session.
STATEMENT OF ACTUARIAL OPINION: Marek Tyszkiewicz and Gregory Zelikov-
sky are members of the Society of Actuaries and the American Academy of
Actuaries. We are members of NYCERS, but do not believe it impairs our
objectivity, and we meet the Qualification Standards of the American
Academy of Actuaries to render the actuarial opinion contained herein.
To the best of our knowledge, the results contained herein have been
prepared in accordance with generally accepted actuarial principles and
procedures and with the Actuarial Standards of Practice issued by the
Actuarial Standards Board.
A. 8579--A 4
FISCAL NOTE IDENTIFICATION: This Fiscal Note 2026-18 dated February
24, 2026 was prepared by the Chief Actuary for the New York City Retire-
ment Systems and Pension Funds and is intended for use only during the
2026 Legislative Session.
