STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
4135
2023-2024 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
February 3, 2023
___________
Introduced by Sen. COONEY -- 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
the retirement of deputy sheriffs-civil in the county of Monroe
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The retirement and social security law is amended by adding
2 a new section 89-x to read as follows:
3 § 89-x. Retirement of deputy sheriffs-civil in Monroe county. a. A
4 member employed in Monroe county shall be eligible to retire pursuant to
5 the provisions of section eighty-nine-p of this article if the county of
6 Monroe elects to make the benefits provided in section eighty-nine-p of
7 this article available to the sheriff, undersheriffs, deputy sheriffs
8 and correction officers of such county and if he or she is a deputy
9 sheriff-civil of such county. Such eligibility shall be an alternative
10 to the eligibility provisions available under any other plan of this
11 article to which such member is subject.
12 b. The term "creditable service" shall include any and all services
13 performed as a deputy sheriff-civil of Monroe county and other credita-
14 ble service as defined in subdivisions d and e of section eighty-nine-p
15 of this article.
16 c. Monroe county is authorized to adopt a resolution on or before
17 December thirty-first, two thousand twenty-four to extend the provisions
18 of this section to those members defined in subdivision a of this
19 section. A certified copy of such resolution must be filed with the
20 comptroller and may contain an election that any past service cost be
21 paid over either a five-year or ten-year period. Such resolution shall
22 be accompanied by the affidavit of the chief executive officer of Monroe
23 county that the county has received an estimate from the retirement
24 system of the cost of the benefit provided by this section.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD02682-02-3
S. 4135 2
1 d. The sheriff shall certify to the comptroller, periodically and at
2 such intervals of time as may be required of him or her and in such
3 fashion as may be prescribed, the identity of the deputy sheriffs-civil
4 of Monroe county.
5 e. Unless otherwise indicated in this section, the provisions of
6 section eighty-nine-p of this article shall be controlling.
7 § 2. Subdivision a of section 445 of the retirement and social securi-
8 ty law, as amended by chapter 245 of the laws of 2021, is amended to
9 read as follows:
10 a. No member of a retirement system who is subject to the provisions
11 of this article shall retire without regard to age, exclusive of retire-
12 ment for disability, unless he or she is a police officer, an investi-
13 gator member of the New York city employees' retirement system, fire-
14 fighter, correction officer, a qualifying member as defined in section
15 eighty-nine-t, as added by chapter six hundred fifty-seven of the laws
16 of nineteen hundred ninety-eight, of this chapter, sanitation worker, a
17 special officer (including persons employed by the city of New York in
18 the title urban park ranger or associate urban park ranger), school
19 safety agent, campus peace officer or a taxi and limousine commission
20 inspector member of the New York city employees' retirement system or
21 the New York city board of education retirement system, a dispatcher
22 member of the New York city employees' retirement system, a police
23 communications member of the New York city employees' retirement system,
24 an EMT member of the New York city employees' retirement system, a depu-
25 ty sheriff member of the New York city employees' retirement system, a
26 correction officer of the Westchester county correction department as
27 defined in section eighty-nine-e of this chapter or employed in Suffolk
28 county as a peace officer, as defined in section eighty-nine-s, as added
29 by chapter five hundred eighty-eight of the laws of nineteen hundred
30 ninety-seven, of this chapter, employed in Suffolk county as a
31 correction officer, as defined in section eighty-nine-f of this chapter,
32 or employed in Nassau county as a correction officer, uniformed
33 correction division personnel, sheriff, undersheriff or deputy sheriff,
34 as defined in section eighty-nine-g of this chapter, or employed in
35 Nassau county as an ambulance medical technician, an ambulance medical
36 technician/supervisor or a member who performs ambulance medical techni-
37 cian related services, or a police medic, police medic supervisor or a
38 member who performs police medic related services, as defined in section
39 eighty-nine-s, as amended by chapter five hundred seventy-eight of the
40 laws of nineteen hundred ninety-eight, of this chapter, or employed in
41 Nassau county as a peace officer, as defined in section eighty-nine-s,
42 as added by chapter five hundred ninety-five of the laws of nineteen
43 hundred ninety-seven, of this chapter, or employed in Albany county as a
44 sheriff, undersheriff, deputy sheriff, correction officer or identifica-
45 tion officer, as defined in section eighty-nine-h of this chapter or is
46 employed in St. Lawrence county as a sheriff, undersheriff, deputy sher-
47 iff or correction officer, as defined in section eighty-nine-i of this
48 chapter or is employed in Orleans county as a sheriff, undersheriff,
49 deputy sheriff or correction officer, as defined in section
50 eighty-nine-l of this chapter or is employed in Jefferson county as a
51 sheriff, undersheriff, deputy sheriff or correction officer, as defined
52 in section eighty-nine-j of this chapter or is employed in Onondaga
53 county as a deputy sheriff-jail division competitively appointed or as a
54 correction officer, as defined in section eighty-nine-k of this chapter
55 or is employed in a county which makes an election under subdivision j
56 of section eighty-nine-p of this chapter as a sheriff, undersheriff,
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1 deputy sheriff or correction officer as defined in such section eighty-
2 nine-p or is employed in Broome County as a sheriff, undersheriff, depu-
3 ty sheriff or correction officer, as defined in section eighty-nine-m of
4 this chapter or is a Monroe county deputy sheriff-court security, or
5 deputy sheriff-jailor as defined in section eighty-nine-n, as added by
6 chapter five hundred ninety-seven of the laws of nineteen hundred nine-
7 ty-one, of this chapter or is employed in Greene county as a sheriff,
8 undersheriff, deputy sheriff or correction officer, as defined in
9 section eighty-nine-o of this chapter or is a traffic officer with the
10 town of Elmira as defined in section eighty-nine-q of this chapter or is
11 employed by Suffolk county as a park police officer, as defined in
12 section eighty-nine-r of this chapter or is a peace officer employed by
13 a county probation department as defined in section eighty-nine-t, as
14 added by chapter six hundred three of the laws of nineteen hundred nine-
15 ty-eight, of this chapter or is employed in Rockland county as a deputy
16 sheriff-civil as defined in section eighty-nine-v of this chapter as
17 added by chapter four hundred forty-one of the laws of two thousand one,
18 or is employed in Rockland county as a superior correction officer as
19 defined in section eighty-nine-v of this chapter as added by chapter
20 five hundred fifty-six of the laws of two thousand one or is a paramedic
21 employed by the police department in the town of Tonawanda and retires
22 under the provisions of section eighty-nine-v of this chapter, as added
23 by chapter four hundred seventy-two of the laws of two thousand one, or
24 is a county fire marshal, supervising fire marshal, fire marshal,
25 assistant fire marshal, assistant chief fire marshal or chief fire
26 marshal employed by the county of Nassau as defined in section eighty-
27 nine-w of this chapter or is employed in Monroe county as a deputy sher-
28 iff-civil as defined in section eighty-nine-x of this chapter and is in
29 a plan which permits immediate retirement upon completion of a specified
30 period of service without regard to age. Except as provided in subdivi-
31 sion c of section four hundred forty-five-a of this article, subdivision
32 c of section four hundred forty-five-b of this article, subdivision c of
33 section four hundred forty-five-c of this article, subdivision c of
34 section four hundred forty-five-d of this article, subdivision c of
35 section four hundred forty-five-e of this article, subdivision c of
36 section four hundred forty-five-f of this article and subdivision c of
37 section four hundred forty-five-h of this article, a member in such a
38 plan and such an occupation, other than a police officer or investigator
39 member of the New York city employees' retirement system or a firefight-
40 er, shall not be permitted to retire prior to the completion of twenty-
41 five years of credited service; provided, however, if such a member in
42 such an occupation is in a plan which permits retirement upon completion
43 of twenty years of service regardless of age, he or she may retire upon
44 completion of twenty years of credited service and prior to the
45 completion of twenty-five years of service, but in such event the bene-
46 fit provided from funds other than those based on such a member's own
47 contributions shall not exceed two per centum of final average salary
48 per each year of credited service.
49 § 3. Section 603 of the retirement and social security law is amended
50 by adding a new subdivision u to read as follows:
51 u. The service retirement benefit specified in section six hundred
52 four of this article shall be payable to members with twenty-five or
53 more years of creditable service, without regard to age, who are
54 employed as deputy sheriffs-civil in Monroe county, as defined in
55 section eighty-nine-x of this chapter if: (i) such members have met the
56 minimum service requirements upon retirement, and (ii) in the case of a
S. 4135 4
1 member subject to the provisions of article fourteen of this chapter,
2 such member files an election therefor which provides that he or she
3 will be subject to the provisions of this article and to none of the
4 provisions of such article fourteen. Such election, which shall be irre-
5 vocable, shall be in writing, duly executed and shall be filed with the
6 comptroller on or before December thirty-first, two thousand twenty-four
7 or within one year of entering into service as a deputy sheriff-civil in
8 Monroe county. The term "creditable service" shall have the meaning as
9 so defined in section eighty-nine-x and subdivision c of section six
10 hundred one of this chapter.
11 § 4. Section 604 of the retirement and social security law is amended
12 by adding a new subdivision u to read as follows:
13 u. The early service retirement for a member who is employed as a
14 deputy sheriff-civil as defined in section eighty-nine-x of this chap-
15 ter, shall be a pension equal to one-fiftieth of final average salary
16 times years of credited service at the completion of twenty-five years
17 of service as such deputy sheriff-civil, but not exceeding one-half of
18 his or her final average salary.
19 § 5. All past service costs associated with implementing the
20 provisions of this act shall be borne by Monroe County.
21 § 6. This act shall take effect immediately.
FISCAL NOTE.--Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50:
This bill would permit members of the New York State and Local Employ-
ees' Retirement System (NYSLERS) who are employed by Monroe County in
the title of deputy sheriff-civil, as certified by the sheriff, to
retire upon completion of twenty-five (25) years of creditable service
with a benefit of one-half (50%) final average salary, provided Monroe
County has filed a resolution with the New York State Comptroller to
provide such benefits on or before December 31, 2024. Additionally, for
those members covered under the provisions of Article 14, this bill
would permit an irrevocable election to forfeit the benefits of Article
14 in favor of the 25-year plan benefit, when elected on or before
December 31, 2024 or within one year of entering service as a deputy
sheriff-civil with Monroe County.
If this bill is enacted during the 2023 legislative session, we antic-
ipate that there will be an increase of approximately $24,000 in the
annual contributions of Monroe County for the fiscal year ending March
31, 2024. In future years, this cost will vary as the billing rates and
salary of the affected members change.
In addition to the annual contributions discussed above, there will be
an immediate past service cost of approximately $147,000 which will be
borne by Monroe County as a one-time payment. This estimate assumes that
payment will be made on February 1, 2024.
These estimated costs are based on 9 affected members employed by
Monroe County, with annual salary of approximately $688,000 as of March
31, 2022. The affected members were identified using information
provided by Andrew Toranzo of the New York State Minority Ways and Means
Committee.
Summary of relevant resources:
Membership data as of March 31, 2022 was used in measuring the impact
of the proposed change, the same data used in the April 1, 2022 actuari-
al valuation. Distributions and other statistics can be found in the
2022 Report of the Actuary and the 2022 Annual Comprehensive Financial
Report.
The actuarial assumptions and methods used are described in the 2020,
2021, and 2022 Annual Report to the Comptroller on Actuarial Assump-
S. 4135 5
tions, 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, 2022
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 January 26, 2023, and intended for use only
during the 2023 Legislative Session, is Fiscal Note No. 2023-36,
prepared by the Actuary for the New York State and Local Retirement
System.
