Grants certain county fire marshals, supervising fire marshals, fire marshals, assistant fire marshals, assistant chief fire marshals or chief fire marshals pension benefits for service beyond twenty-five years, the official text

S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   4599
 
                        2025-2026 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                             February 10, 2025
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by Sens. JACKSON, MARTINEZ, MARTINS, PALUMBO, RHOADS -- read
   twice and ordered printed, and when printed to  be  committed  to  the
   Committee on Civil Service and Pensions
 
 AN  ACT  to amend the retirement and social security law, in relation to
   granting certain county fire marshals, supervising fire marshals, fire
   marshals, assistant fire marshals, assistant chief  fire  marshals  or
   chief fire marshals pension benefits for service rendered beyond twen-
   ty-five years
 
   THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section 1. Subdivision t of section 604 of the retirement  and  social
 security  law,  as  amended by section 7 of part II of chapter 55 of the
 laws of 2023, is amended to read as follows:
   t. The early service retirement benefit for a member who  is  employed
 in  the  county  of  Nassau  as  a county fire marshal, supervising fire
 marshal, fire marshal, assistant  fire  marshal,  assistant  chief  fire
 marshal,  chief  fire  marshal  or  division supervising fire marshal as
 defined in section eighty-nine-w of this  chapter  shall  be  a  pension
 equal  to  one-fiftieth  of final average salary times years of credited
 service at the completion of twenty-five years of service as such county
 fire marshal, supervising fire marshal,  fire  marshal,  assistant  fire
 marshal,  assistant  chief  fire marshal, chief fire marshal or division
 supervising fire marshal, but not exceeding one-half  of  [his  or  her]
 SUCH MEMBER'S final average salary, FOR SERVICE BEYOND TWENTY-FIVE YEARS
 AND  FOR  NON-FIRE  MARSHAL  COUNTY  SERVICE THE BENEFIT IS INCREASED BY
 ONE-SIXTIETH OF FINAL AVERAGE SALARY FOR EACH YEAR OF ADDITIONAL SERVICE
 CREDIT.
   §  2.  All  past  service  costs  associated  with  implementing   the
 provisions of this act shall be borne by the county of Nassau and may be
 amortized over ten years.

  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD01330-02-5
 S. 4599                             2
 
   §  3. Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary none of the
 provisions of this act shall be subject to the appropriation requirement
 of section twenty-five of the retirement and social security law.
   § 4. This act shall take effect immediately.
   FISCAL NOTE.--Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50:
   This  bill  would modify the service retirement benefit for members of
 the New York State and Local Employees' Retirement  System  employed  by
 Nassau  County  in certain fire marshal job titles. The modified service
 retirement benefit will be one-half of final average salary  (FAS)  upon
 completion  of  twenty-five  years of creditable service with additional
 sixtieths for  each  year  of  creditable  service,  including  non-fire
 marshal  service,  in  excess  of twenty-five years. The current service
 retirement benefit is one-half of FAS  upon  completion  of  twenty-five
 years of creditable service.
   If this bill is enacted during the 2025 Legislative Session, we antic-
 ipate  that  there  will  be an increase of approximately $59,000 in the
 annual contributions of Nassau County for the fiscal year  ending  March
 31, 2026. In future years this cost will vary but is expected to average
 0.8% of salary annually.
   In addition to the annual contributions discussed above, there will be
 an  immediate  past service cost of approximately $910,000 which will be
 borne by Nassau County as a one-time payment. This estimate assumes that
 payment will be made on February 1, 2026. If  Nassau  County  elects  to
 amortize this cost over a 10-year period, the cost for each year includ-
 ing interest would be $116,000.
   These  estimated  costs  are  based on 43 affected members employed by
 Nassau County, with annual salary of approximately $5.8  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.
   This  estimate,  dated  February  7,  2025,  and intended for use only
 during the 2025 Legislative Session, is Fiscal Note No. 2025-7. 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.