Authorizes David Edwards to receive certain service credit under a twenty-five year retirement plan, the official text

S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   7915
 
                        2025-2026 Regular Sessions
 
                           I N  A S S E M B L Y
 
                              April 11, 2025
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by M. of A. LUPARDO -- read once and referred to the Commit-
   tee on Governmental Employees
 
 AN ACT to authorize the city of Binghamton to offer an optional  retire-
   ment plan to firefighter David Edwards
 
   THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

   Section 1. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary,
 the city of Binghamton, in the county of Broome, a participating employ-
 er in the New York state and local police and  fire  retirement  system,
 which previously elected to offer the optional one-sixtieths after twen-
 ty-five  years  of  total  creditable  service,  established pursuant to
 subdivision f of section 384 of the retirement and social security  law,
 to  firefighters employed by such city who are covered by section 384 of
 the retirement and social security law, is  hereby  authorized  to  make
 participation  in  such  plan  available to David Edwards, a firefighter
 employed by the city of Binghamton, who, for reasons not  ascribable  to
 his  own  negligence, failed to make a timely application to participate
 in such optional one-sixtieths for his twenty-five year retirement plan.
 The city of Binghamton may so elect  by  filing  with  the  state  comp-
 troller,  within nine months of the effective date of this act, a resol-
 ution of its own common council together with  certification  that  such
 firefighter  did  not  bar himself from participation in such retirement
 plan as a result of his own negligence. Thereafter, such firefighter may
 elect to be covered by the provisions of subdivision f of section 384 of
 the retirement and social security law, and shall  be  entitled  to  the
 full rights and benefits associated with coverage under such section, by
 filing  a  request  to that effect with the state comptroller within one
 year of the effective date of this act.
   § 2. All employer past service costs associated with implementing  the
 provisions  of this act shall be borne by the city of Binghamton and may
 be amortized over a ten-year period.

  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD10871-02-5
 A. 7915                             2
 
   § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
   FISCAL NOTE. -- Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50:
   This  bill would allow the City of Binghamton to reopen the provisions
 of §384.f. of the Retirement and Social Security Law  (RSSL)  for  fire-
 fighter David Edwards, who is currently covered under §384 of the RSSL.
   If this bill is enacted during the 2025 Legislative Session, we antic-
 ipate  that  there  will  be  an increase of approximately $1,100 in the
 annual contributions of the City  of  Binghamton  for  the  fiscal  year
 ending  March 31, 2026. In future years this cost will vary as the bill-
 ing rates and salary of David Edwards change.
   In addition to the annual contributions discussed above, there will be
 an immediate past service cost of approximately $16,700  which  will  be
 borne  by  the  City  of Binghamton as a one-time payment. This estimate
 assumes that payment will be made on February 1, 2026. If  the  City  of
 Binghamton  elects to amortize this cost over a 10 year period, the cost
 for each year including interest would be $2,130.
   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 April 9, 2025, and intended for use  only  during
 the  2025  Legislative  Session,  is  Fiscal Note No. 2025-128. 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.