Provides earnings limitations for retired police officers employed part-time by municipalities with a population of less than 7,500; permits such officer to work up to five hundred twenty hours in any consecutive six-month period, with no suspension or diminution of retirement allowance; establishes villages or towns shall report such hours and salary earned on a monthly basis and shall contribute a percentage of the officer's excess earnings to the New York state and local police and fire retirement system.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
7973--A
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
May 15, 2025
___________
Introduced by Sen. MAYER -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Civil Service and Pensions
-- reported favorably from said committee and committed to the Commit-
tee on Finance -- 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
calculating the earnings limitations for retired police officers
employed part-time by certain municipalities
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Section 212 of the retirement and social security law is
2 amended by adding a new subdivision 4 to read as follows:
3 4. Notwithstanding the provisions of subdivisions one and two of this
4 section, such earnings limitations shall not apply to a retired police
5 officer, who has retired after having twenty years of vested service in
6 a police pension system that fully vests at twenty years, who is
7 employed part-time as a police officer in a village or town with a popu-
8 lation of less than seven thousand five hundred as determined by the
9 most recent federal decennial census, where at least seventy percent of
10 such village or town's active-duty police force, not including civilian
11 staff, consists of part-time officers. Such part-time police officer
12 shall be permitted to work up to five hundred twenty hours in any
13 consecutive six-month period in a calendar year based on hours worked as
14 reported by the village or town on a monthly basis, with no suspension
15 or diminution of retirement allowance. Any village or town that hires a
16 retired police officer pursuant to this subdivision shall report such
17 officer's days worked and salary earned to the New York state and local
18 police and fire retirement system on a monthly basis. For any such
19 officer whose earnings exceed the earnings limitations in subdivisions
20 one and two of this section, the village or town employing such officer
21 shall contribute to the New York state and local police and fire retire-
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD13074-03-5
S. 7973--A 2
1 ment system a percentage of such officer's excess earnings equivalent to
2 the normal contribution rate as described in paragraph one of subdivi-
3 sion b of section three hundred twenty-three of this chapter.
4 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
FISCAL NOTE.--Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50:
This bill would allow retired police officers to continue to receive
their full retirement benefit when reemployed as a police officer on a
part-time basis for up to 520 hours in any consecutive six-month period,
when such employment is by a village or town where (1) the municipal
population is less than 7,500, and (2) at least 70% of the police force
is employed on a part-time basis. Such retired police officers must have
retired from a twenty-year retirement plan to be eligible for this bene-
fit. The village or town would be required to pay employer contributions
on any salary paid to such retirees exceeding the post-retirement earn-
ings limit, currently $35,000.
Insofar as this bill affects the New York State and Local Police and
Fire Retirement System (NYSLPFRS), if this bill were enacted during the
2025 Legislative Session, the direct cost incurred would be the
retiree's pension benefit paid while post-retirement earnings exceed
$35,000. The pension benefit expected to be paid by the NYSLPFRS during
that 7-month period is estimated to be $48,000 per person.
Further, we anticipate significant administrative costs to implement
the provisions of this legislation.
All costs will be shared by the State of New York and all participat-
ing employers in NYSLPFRS and spread over future billing cycles.
The number of members and retirees who could be affected by this
legislation cannot be readily determined. If large numbers of retirees
are rehired into such positions, significant annual costs would result.
In addition to the costs quoted above, insofar as this proposal
disrupts the usual pattern and timing of employee turnover (that is, if
members retire earlier than assumed and participating employers hire a
retiree instead of a new billable member), shifts in member behavior
could generate losses that increase the average billing rate from 33.7%
to 34.5%. The actual increase in billing rates will depend upon member
and employer utilization, with the rates above representing an upper
maximum.
Based on the 2020 census, approximately 180 towns and villages partic-
ipating in NYSLPFRS would satisfy the population requirement associated
with this proposal. These towns and villages employ approximately 1,600
police officers with annual salary of approximately $85 million as of
March 31, 2024.
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.
S. 7973--A 3
This estimate, dated June 3, 2025, and intended for use only during
the 2025 Legislative Session, is Fiscal Note No. 2025-183. As Chief
Actuary of the New York State and Local Retirement System, I, Aaron
Schottin Young, hereby certify that this analysis complies with applica-
ble 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.
FISCAL NOTE.--Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50:
SUMMARY: This proposed legislation would remove the $35,000 Retirement
and Social Security Law (RSSL) Section 212 post-retirement public
employment earnings limit for certain police officers who retired with
at least 20 years of service and are reemployed on a part-time basis as
a police officer with certain villages or towns.
ILLUSTRATION - ADDITIONAL RETIREMENT ALLOWANCE TO BE PAID
Annual Annual Post-Retirement Earnings in Calendar Year
Retirement
Allowance $50,000 $60,000 $70,000 $80,000
$50,000 $15,000 $20,833 $25,000 $28,125
$60,000 $18,000 $25,000 $30,000 $33,750
$70,000 $21,000 $29,167 $35,000 $39,375
$80,000 $24,000 $33,333 $40,000 $45,000
$90,000 $27,000 $37,500 $45,000 $50,625
$100,000 $30,000 $41,667 $50,000 $56,250
The resulting increase in employer contributions will be allocated to
New York City.
CENSUS DATA: The number of retirees who will return to public service
in the future is unknown and the portion of the pension allowance
currently suspended is highly dependent on their salary earned. The
results above illustrate the additional pension amount that would be
paid under this legislation given a retiree's post-retirement earnings
and pension allowance.
The preliminary census data collected as of June 30, 2024 for the
potentially impacted service retiree population is summarized below.
POLICE
Receiving Members
- Number Count: 23,281
- Average Age: 56.5
- Average Benefit: 74,500
IMPACT ON PENSION PAYMENTS: Retirees below age 65 who return to public
service and elect to be covered under the provisions of RSSL Section 212
are permitted to earn an amount not exceeding a specific dollar limit
(currently $35,000) in each calendar year. Once this dollar limit is
reached, the retiree's retirement allowance is suspended for the remain-
der of that calendar year. The amount of the retirement allowance
suspended is contingent upon both individual post-retirement earnings
and annual retirement allowances.
The proposed legislation would remove the post-retirement earnings
limit for police retirees who work part-time for (1) a town or village
S. 7973--A 4
with a population less than 7,500; (2) where at least 70% of such
village or town's uniformed police force is part-time; and (3) the part-
time work does not exceed 520 hours in a consecutive six-month period in
a calendar year.
ASSUMPTIONS AND METHODS: For illustrative purposes only, the table
above presents the estimated additional retirement allowances paid
(i.e., those benefits that would not be subject to suspension) for vari-
ous sample combinations of post-retirement annual earnings and annual
retirement allowance amounts.
For purposes of this fiscal note, potential normal contributions to be
paid by affected villages and towns to the New York State and Local
Police and Fire Retirement System where post-retirement earning thresh-
olds have been exceeded have not been included as an offset of cost to
New York City.
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.
FISCAL NOTE IDENTIFICATION: This Fiscal Note 2025-75 dated June 5,
2025 was prepared by the Chief Actuary for the New York City Retirement
Systems and Pension Funds and is intended for use only during the 2025
Legislative Session.
