NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A5885
SPONSOR: Berger TITLE OF BILL:
An act authorizing Jonathan Grossman to apply for a recalculation of his
retirement benefits
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
To allow for Jonathan Grossman to apply for a recalculation of his
retirement benefits due to the unique circumstances surrounding his
retirement.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1 provides for Jonathan Grossman to recalculate his retirement
benefits with the inclusion of his lump sum for accumulated vacation,
including interest from the date of retirement. Section 2 directs the
City of New York to bear the cost of these provisions. Section 3 sets
the effective date.
JUSTIFICATION:
Jonathan Grossman became a member of the New York City Teachers Retire-
ment System (NYC TRS) as a Tier-1 Member in 1972. In 1974, Mr. Grossman
gained employment with the New York City Housing and Development Admin-
istration. His status as a city employee was converted to the state
system in 1984 when his division within the New York City housing agency
was transferred to state control of the New York State Division of Hous-
ing and Community Renewal under the Omnibus Housing Act of 1983. This
act allowed for transferred employees to remain with their respective
city retirement systems. Upon his retirement in 2010, Mr. Grossman
found that NYC TRS had not included his lump sum vacation payment
towards the calculation of his Final Average Salary (FAS). While Section
431(1) of the state Retirement and Social Security Law discontinued this
practice for members who joined their retirement systems after April
1,1972, Mr. Grossman was a member well within the time period to be
eligible for this benefit. This bill would address this miscalculation
and allow for Mr. Grossman to recalculate an adjustment to his FAS and
pension amount.
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2019: A.6660- Referred to Governmental Employees
2022: A.6660- Referred to Governmental Employees
2021: A.6403- Referred to Governmental Employees
2022: A.6403- Referred to Governmental Employees
2024: A.8607- Referred to Governmental Employees
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:
To Be Determined.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
5885
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
February 24, 2025
___________
Introduced by M. of A. BERGER -- read once and referred to the Committee
on Governmental Employees
AN ACT authorizing Jonathan Grossman to apply for a recalculation of his
retirement benefits
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, Jona-
2 than Grossman, who joined the New York city teachers' retirement system
3 as a Tier I member on January 1, 1972, who retired from such system on
4 September 28, 2010, and who for reasons not ascribable to his own negli-
5 gence had his retirement benefits calculated without the inclusion of a
6 lump sum payment for accumulated vacation, shall have his retirement
7 benefits recalculated with such lump sum payments, including interest
8 accruing from the date of retirement, if he shall file an application
9 therefor with the state comptroller on or before one year of the effec-
10 tive date of this act.
11 § 2. All past service costs of implementing the provisions of this act
12 shall be borne by the city of New York.
13 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
FISCAL NOTE.--Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50:
SUMMARY: This proposed legislation would allow Jonathan Grossman, a
retired Tier 1 member of the New York City Teachers' Retirement System
(TRS) to have his retirement benefits recalculated to include his lump
sum payment for accumulated vacation in the calculation of his final
average salary.
EXPECTED INCREASE (DECREASE) IN EMPLOYER CONTRIBUTIONS
by Fiscal Year for the first 25 years ($)
Year TRS
2026 0
2027 360,000
2028 0
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD00846-02-5
A. 5885 2
2029 0
2030 0
2031 0
2032 0
2033 0
2034 0
2035 0
2036 0
2037 0
2038 0
2039 0
2040 0
2041 0
2042 0
2043 0
2044 0
2045 0
2046 0
2047 0
2048 0
2049 0
2050 0
The entire increase in employer contributions will be allocated to New
York City.
PRESENT VALUE OF BENEFITS: The Present Value of Benefits is the
discounted expected value of benefits paid to current members if all
assumptions are met.
INITIAL INCREASE (DECREASE) IN ACTUARIAL PRESENT VALUES
as of June 30, 2025 ($)
Present Value (PV) TRS
(1) PV of Employer Contributions: 325,000
(2) PV of Employee Contributions: 0
Total PV of Benefits (1) + (2): 325,000
UNFUNDED ACCRUED LIABILITY (UAL): Actuarial Accrued Liabilities are the
portion of the Present Value of Benefits allocated to past service. For
purposes of this Fiscal Note, UAL attributable to inactive members was
recognized immediately.
AMORTIZATION OF UNFUNDED ACCRUED LIABILITY
TRS
Increase (Decrease) in UAL: 325,000
Number of Payments: 1
Amortization Payment: 360,000
CENSUS DATA: The estimates presented herein are based on preliminary
census data collected as of June 30, 2024. The census data for the
impacted population is summarized below.
TRS
A. 5885 3
Receiving Members
- Number Count: 1
- Average Age: 77.0
IMPACT ON MEMBER BENEFITS: Mr. Grossman retired as a Tier 1 TRS member
on September 28, 2010. He currently receives an annual retirement allow-
ance of $103,945 per year under the 50% Joint and Survivor with Pop-Up
payment option.
Under the proposed legislation, Mr. Grossman's retirement allowance
would be recalculated to include in his final average salary a lump sum
payment he received for unused vacation time, which is a benefit that is
generally not afforded to TRS retirees. The additional cost, less any
required member contributions paid by Mr. Grossman, to fund the
increased retirement allowance under the proposed legislation would be
paid by the City of New York.
Tier 1 TRS members are generally permitted to take an actuarial
reduction of their retirement allowance to account for deficits in
member contributions. For purposes of this fiscal note, it is assumed
that Mr. Grossman would not pay any owed member contributions resulting
from the recalculation. Based on this assumption and application of
other Tier 1 benefit calculation provisions, it is estimated that Mr.
Grossman's annual retirement allowance would increase to $114,964. This
annual increase would apply prospectively as well as retroactively, less
any payments previously made, to Mr. Grossman's September 28, 2010 date
of retirement.
ASSUMPTIONS AND METHODS: The estimates presented herein have been
calculated based on the Revised 2021 Actuarial Assumptions and Methods
of the impacted retirement systems.
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 2025-13 dated February
12, 2025 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
2025 Legislative Session.
