Authorizes the county of Suffolk and the village of Nissequogue, in the county of Suffolk, to offer the 20-year retirement option to Bridget Topping, a police officer employed by such county and village.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
6321
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
March 10, 2025
___________
Introduced by Sen. PALUMBO -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Civil Service and Pensions
AN ACT to authorize the county of Suffolk and the village of Nissequogue
to offer an optional twenty-year retirement plan to police officer
Bridget Topping
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 county of Suffolk and the village of Nissequogue, in the county of
3 Suffolk, participating employers in the New York state and local police
4 and fire retirement system, which previously elected to offer the
5 optional twenty-year retirement plan, established pursuant to section
6 384-d of the retirement and social security law, to police officers
7 employed by such county and village, are hereby authorized to make
8 participation in such plan available to Bridget Topping, a police offi-
9 cer employed full-time by the county of Suffolk and part-time by the
10 village of Nissequogue, who, for reasons not ascribable to her own
11 negligence, failed to make a timely application to participate in such
12 optional twenty-year retirement plan. The county of Suffolk and the
13 village of Nissequogue may so elect by separately filing with the state
14 comptroller, within nine months of the effective date of this act,
15 resolutions of its own county legislature and the village board of trus-
16 tees together with certification that such police officer did not bar
17 herself from participation in such retirement plan as a result of her
18 own negligence. Thereafter, such police officer may elect to be covered
19 by the provisions of section 384-d of the retirement and social security
20 law and shall be entitled to the full rights and benefits associated
21 with coverage under such section as well as section 384-e of such law,
22 by filing a request to that effect with the state comptroller within one
23 year of the effective date of this act.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD04419-02-5
S. 6321 2
1 § 2. All employer past service costs associated with implementing the
2 provisions of this act shall be borne by the county of Suffolk and may
3 be amortized over a ten-year period.
4 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
FISCAL NOTE.--Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50:
This bill would allow Suffolk County and the Village of Nissequogue to
reopen the provisions of section 384-d, together with section 384-e, of
the Retirement and Social Security Law for police officer Bridget
Topping.
If this bill is enacted during the 2025 Legislative Session, we antic-
ipate that there will be an increase of approximately $20,000 in the
annual contributions of Suffolk County and $1,400 in the annual contrib-
utions of the Village of Nissequogue for the fiscal year ending March
31, 2026. In future years this cost will vary as the billing rates and
salary of Bridget Topping change.
In addition to the annual contributions discussed above, there will be
an immediate past service cost of approximately $726,000 which will be
borne by Suffolk County as a one-time payment. This estimate assumes
that payment will be made on February 1, 2026. If Suffolk County elects
to amortize this cost over a 10-year period, the cost for the first year
including interest would be $92,700.
Summary of relevant resources:
Membership data as of March 31, 2024 was used in measuring the impact
of the proposed change, the same data used in the April 1, 2024 actuari-
al valuation. Distributions and other statistics can be found in the
2024 Report of the Actuary and the 2024 Annual Comprehensive Financial
Report. The actuarial assumptions and methods used are described in the
2024 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, 2024 New York State and Local Retirement System Financial Statements
and Supplementary Information.
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 February 26, 2025, and intended for use only
during the 2025 Legislative Session, is Fiscal Note No. 2025-81. As
Chief Actuary of the New York State and Local Retirement System, 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 Actuaries, of
which I am a member.
