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
________________________________________________________________________
6633--A
2023-2024 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
May 2, 2023
___________
Introduced by Sen. PALUMBO -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Civil Service and Pensions
-- recommitted to the Committee on Civil Service and Pensions in
accordance with Senate Rule 6, sec. 8 -- committee discharged, bill
amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said commit-
tee
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
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD07215-03-4
S. 6633--A 2
1 with coverage under such section as well as section 384-e of such law,
2 by filing a request to that effect with the state comptroller within one
3 year of the effective date of this act.
4 § 2. All employer past service costs associated with implementing the
5 provisions of this act shall be borne by the county of Suffolk and may
6 be amortized over a ten-year period.
7 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
FISCAL NOTE.--Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50:
This bill would allow the County of Suffolk and the Village of Nisseq-
uogue to reopen the provisions of section 384-d, together with 384-e, of
the Retirement and Social Security Law for police officer Bridget
Topping.
If this bill is enacted during the 2024 Legislative Session, we antic-
ipate that there will be an increase of approximately $14,000 in the
annual contributions of the County of Suffolk and $2,000 in the annual
contributions of the Village of Nissequogue for the fiscal year ending
March 31, 2025. 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 $540,000 which will be
borne by the County of Suffolk as a one-time payment. This estimate
assumes that payment will be made on February 1, 2025. If the County of
Suffolk elects to amortize this cost over a 10-year period, the cost for
each year including interest would be $69,000.
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. 2024-22, prepared by
the Actuary for the New York State and Local Retirement System.
