NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A9442
SPONSOR: Wallace TITLE OF BILL:
An act to authorize the city of Buffalo to offer an optional twenty year
retirement plan to firefighters Rhiannon Maguire and Jeffrey Brett
PURPOSE:
The purpose of this bill is to allow the City of Buffalo to offer a
twenty-year retirement plan to two firefighters employed by the City
who, for reasons not ascribable to their own negligence, failed to make
a timely application to participate in such optional twenty-year retire-
ment plan.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1 authorizes the City of Buffalo to offer a retirement plan
pursuant to section 384-d of the retirement and social security law to
Rhiannon Maguire and Jeffrey Brett.
Section 2 specifies that the City of Buffalo will bear responsibility
for all employer past service costs, which may be amortized over a ten-
year period.
Section 3 is the effective date and fiscal note.
JUSTIFICATION:
Rhiannon Maguire and Jeffrey Brett are firefighters employed by the City
of Buffalo. Both firefighters were hired in Sept 2009, at a time when
New York State was transitioning to a new pension tier. Both had prior
public service, and both were given misinformation by a state represen-
tative that they were not eligible to participate in the 20-year retire-
ment plan offered to other firefighters. This bill would authorize the
city. of Buffalo to offer an optional twenty year retirement plan to
firefighters Rhiannon Maguire and Jeffrey Brett.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
LOCAL FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
9442
IN ASSEMBLY
March 14, 2024
___________
Introduced by M. of A. WALLACE -- read once and referred to the Commit-
tee on Governmental Employees
AN ACT to authorize the city of Buffalo to offer an optional twenty year
retirement plan to firefighters Rhiannon Maguire and Jeffrey Brett
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 Buffalo, in the county of Erie, a participating employer in
3 the New York state and local police and fire retirement system, which
4 previously elected to offer the optional twenty year retirement plan,
5 established pursuant to section 384-d of the retirement and social secu-
6 rity law, to firefighters employed by such city, is hereby authorized to
7 make participation in such plan available to Rhiannon Maguire and
8 Jeffrey Brett, firefighters employed by the city of Buffalo, who, for
9 reasons not ascribable to their own negligence, failed to make a timely
10 application to participate in such optional twenty year retirement plan.
11 The city of Buffalo may so elect by filing with the state comptroller,
12 within nine months of the effective date of this act, a resolution of
13 its own common council together with certification that such firefight-
14 ers did not bar themselves from participation in such retirement plan as
15 a result of their own negligence. Thereafter, such firefighters may
16 elect to be covered by the provisions of section 384-d of the retirement
17 and social security law, and shall be entitled to the full rights and
18 benefits associated with coverage under such section as well as section
19 384-e of such law, by filing a request to that effect with the state
20 comptroller within one year of the effective date of this act.
21 § 2. All employer past service costs associated with implementing the
22 provisions of this act shall be borne by the city of Buffalo and may be
23 amortized over a ten year period.
24 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
FISCAL NOTE.--Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50:
This bill would allow the City of Buffalo to reopen the provisions of
section 384-d, together with 384-e, of the Retirement and Social Securi-
ty Law for firefighters Jeffrey Brett and Rhiannon Maguire.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD14155-02-4
A. 9442 2
If this bill is enacted during the 2024 Legislative Session, we antic-
ipate that there will be an increase of approximately $10,000 in the
annual contributions of the City of Buffalo for the fiscal year ending
March 31, 2025. In future years this cost will vary as the billing rates
and salary of Jeffrey Brett and Rhiannon Maguire change.
In addition to the annual contributions discussed above, there will be
an immediate past service cost of approximately $357,000 which will be
borne by the City of Buffalo as a one-time payment. This estimate
assumes that payment will be made on February 1, 2025. If the City of
Buffalo elects to amortize this cost over a 10-year period, the cost for
each year including interest would be $45,600.
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 February 22, 2024, and intended for use only
during the 2024 Legislative Session, is Fiscal Note No. 2024-121,
prepared by the Actuary for the New York State and Local Retirement
System.
