Grants Nassau 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 twenty-five years.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A10250
SPONSOR: Pheffer Amato TITLE OF BILL:
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
PURPOSE:
This bill would entitle county fire marshals, supervising fire marshals,
assistant fire marshals, assistant chief fire marshals or chief fire
marshals employed by Nassau County and enrolled in New York State Local
Retirement System (NYSLRS) Tiers 4, 5, and 6 plans to accrue an addi-
tional service allowance of 1-60th of their final average salary per
year for service rendered beyond 25 years.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1 amends subdivision t of Section 604 of the Retirement and
Social Security Law to authorize Nassau County fire marshals that are
part of NYSLRS to accrue an additional service allowance of I -60th of
their final average salary per year for service rendered beyond 25
years.
Section 2 provides that all past service costs associated with imple-
menting the provisions of this act shall be borne by Nassau County and
may be amortized over 10 years.
Section 3 states that none of the provisions of this act shall be
subject to the appropriation requirement of Section 25 of the Retirement
and Social Security Law.
Section 4 is the effective date.
JUSTIFICATION:
Fire Marshals throughout New York State provide a vital law enforcement
element to the community's fire safety. They perform inspections and
investigations to ensure the enforcement of fire prevention and arson
laws. This involves physical examination of premises where a fire has
occurred to determine its cause. Fire Marshals provide demonstrations on
fire and arson prevention tactics. Furthermore, they assist in the
training of volunteer fire department inspectors. Their duties often
include rigorous activities such as rescuing individuals at hazardous
material emergencies. This may involve lifting, climbing, and entering
confined areas, necessitating protective clothing and self-contained
breathing apparatuses.
Currently those Fire Marshals enrolled in Tiers 4, 5, and 6 face an
inequity in pension benefits when they work greater than 25 years in
their position, accruing no additional retirement benefits for such
service while members of Tiers 1 and 2 accrue 1-60th of their final
average salary per year beyond their 25 years of service. These amend-
ments serve to eliminate this inequity for fire marshals, supervising
fire marshals, assistant fire marshals, assistant chief fire marshals,
or chief fire marshals enrolled in Tier 4, 5 , and 6 plans.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2025: A.5868-VETO
2024 A.8827 - referred to governmental employees
STATE AND LOCAL FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
Please see fiscal note.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
10250
IN ASSEMBLY
February 12, 2026
___________
Introduced by M. of A. PHEFFER AMATO -- read once and referred to the
Committee on Governmental Employees
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:
1 Section 1. Subdivision t of section 604 of the retirement and social
2 security law, as amended by section 7 of part II of chapter 55 of the
3 laws of 2023, is amended to read as follows:
4 t. The early service retirement benefit for a member who is employed
5 in the county of Nassau as a county fire marshal, supervising fire
6 marshal, fire marshal, assistant fire marshal, assistant chief fire
7 marshal, chief fire marshal or division supervising fire marshal as
8 defined in section eighty-nine-w of this chapter shall be a pension
9 equal to one-fiftieth of final average salary times years of credited
10 service at the completion of twenty-five years of service as such county
11 fire marshal, supervising fire marshal, fire marshal, assistant fire
12 marshal, assistant chief fire marshal, chief fire marshal or division
13 supervising fire marshal, but not exceeding one-half of [his or her]
14 such member's final average salary, for service beyond twenty-five years
15 and for non-fire marshal county service the benefit is increased by
16 one-sixtieth of final average salary for each year of additional service
17 credit, provided, however, that the total allowance payable pursuant to
18 this subdivision shall not exceed three-quarters of such member's final
19 average salary.
20 § 2. All past service costs associated with implementing the
21 provisions of this act shall be borne by the county of Nassau and may be
22 amortized over ten years.
23 § 3. Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary none of the
24 provisions of this act shall be subject to the appropriation requirement
25 of section twenty-five of the retirement and social security law.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD01330-05-6
A. 10250 2
1 § 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. Members are currently
awarded 50 percent of final average salary (FAS) upon completion of 25
years of creditable service. The modified benefit will award additional
sixtieths for each year of creditable service, including non-fire
marshal service, in excess of 25 years. The benefit will be capped at 75
percent of FAS.
We estimate that Nassau County's annual contributions will increase
$45,000 beginning FYE 2027. Annual costs will vary but are expected to
average 0.5% of salary.
In addition, there will be an immediate past service cost of $629,000
borne by Nassau County as a one-time payment. This cost assumes that
payment will be made on February 1, 2027. If Nassau County elects to
amortize this cost over 10 years, the cost for each year will be
$80,300.
These estimated costs are based on 42 affected members employed by
Nassau County, with annual salary of approximately $7.2 million as of
March 31, 2025.
Summary of relevant resources:
Membership data as of March 31, 2025 was used to measure the impact of
the bill, the same data used in the Actuarial Valuations dated April 1,
2025. Distributions and other statistics can be found in the 2025 Report
of the Actuary and the 2025 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report. The
actuarial assumptions and methods used are described in the 2025 Annual
Report to the Comptroller on Actuarial Assumptions, and the Codes, Rules
and Regulations of the State of New York: Audit and Control. The fair
value of assets and GASB disclosures can be found in the 2025 Financial
Statements and Supplementary Information.
Assumptions, demographics, and other considerations may have been
modified to better reflect specific provisions of any proposed benefit
change(s).
This fiscal note does not constitute a legal opinion on the viability
of the bill, nor is it intended to serve as a substitute for the profes-
sional judgment of an attorney.
This estimate, dated February 6, 2026, and intended for use only
during the 2026 Legislative Session, is Fiscal Note Number 2026-48. As
Chief Actuary of the New York State and Local Retirement System
(NYSLRS), I, Aaron Schottin Young, hereby certify that this analysis
complies with applicable 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 Actu-
aries, of which I am a member. I am a member of NYSLRS but do not
believe it impairs my objectivity.
