Authorizes the city of Cortland to offer an optional twenty year retirement plan to firefighter Travis Marshall, who, for reasons not ascribable to his own negligence, failed to make a timely application to participate in such plan previously established by the retirement and social security law.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
8217
IN SENATE
April 22, 2020
___________
Introduced by Sen. SEWARD -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Civil Service and Pensions
AN ACT to authorize the city of Cortland, in the county of Cortland to
offer an optional twenty-year retirement plan to firefighter Travis
Marshall
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 city of Cortland, in the county of Cortland, a participating employ-
3 er in the New York state and local police and fire retirement system,
4 which previously elected to offer the optional twenty-year retirement
5 plan, established pursuant to section 384-d of the retirement and social
6 security law, to firefighters employed by such city, is hereby author-
7 ized to make participation in such plan available to Travis Marshall, a
8 firefighter employed by the city of Cortland, who, for reasons not
9 ascribable to his own negligence, failed to make a timely application to
10 participate in such optional twenty-year retirement plan. The city of
11 Cortland may so elect by filing with the state comptroller, within 12
12 months of the effective date of this act, a resolution of its own common
13 council together with certification that such firefighter did not bar
14 himself from participation in such retirement plan as a result of his
15 own negligence. Thereafter, such firefighter may elect to be covered by
16 the provisions of section 384-d of the retirement and social security
17 law, and shall be entitled to the full rights and benefits associated
18 with coverage under such section, by filing a request to that effect
19 with the state comptroller within 6 months of the city of Cortland's
20 filing.
21 § 2. All past costs associated with implementing the provisions of
22 this act shall be borne by the city of Cortland, and may be amortized
23 over a period of ten years.
24 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
FISCAL NOTE. -- Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50:
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD15532-02-0
S. 8217 2
This bill would allow the City of Cortland to elect to reopen the
provisions of Section 384-d of the Retirement and Social Security Law
for firefighter Travis Marshall.
If this bill is enacted during the 2020 legislative session and Travis
Marshall becomes covered under the provisions of Section 384-d, we
anticipate that there will be an increase of approximately $2,600 in the
annual contributions of the City of Cortland for the fiscal year ending
March 31, 2021. In future years, this cost will vary as the billing
rates and salary of Travis Marshall change.
In addition to the annual contributions discussed above, there will be
an immediate past service cost of $13,600, which will be borne by the
City of Cortland as a one-time payment. This estimate is based on the
assumption that payment will be made on February 1, 2021. If the City of
Cortland elects to amortize this cost over a 10 year period, the cost
for the first year would be $1,790.
Summary of relevant resources:
The membership data used in measuring the impact of the proposed
change was the same as that used in the March 31, 2019 actuarial valu-
ation. Distributions and other statistics can be found in the 2019
Report of the Actuary and the 2019 Comprehensive Annual Financial
Report.
The actuarial assumptions and methods used are described in the 2015,
2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019 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, 2019
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 March 12, 2020, and intended for use only during
the 2020 Legislative Session, is Fiscal Note No. 2020-82, prepared by
the Actuary for the New York State and Local Retirement System.
