NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A7544A
SPONSOR: Ra TITLE OF BILL:
An act granting retroactive membership with Tier IV status in the New
York state and local employees' retirement system to Dawn Ward
PURPOSE:
Provides authorization to Dawn Ward, an employee of the Village of Kens-
ington, to change her date of membership with the NYS and Local Employ-
ees' Retirement System and be granted Tier 4 status.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section one of the bill authorizes Dawn Ward, who was employed by the
Village of Kensington to apply for retroactive membership in the NYS and
Local Employees' Retirement system with an effective date of November 1,
1993 and that no contributions made by her to the retirement system
shall be returned or refunded.
Section two states that all past service costs of implementing the
provisions of this act shall be borne by the Village of Kensington.
Section three establishes the effective date.
JUSTIFICATION:
Dawn Ward began her career in municipal government with the Village of
Kensington in 1993. However, she was not offered the opportunity to join
the retirement system at that time. When she did join in 2011 she was
placed in Tier V. This legislation would allow Ms. Ward to apply to join
the retirement system as of November 1, 1993 and be granted Tier IV
status.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
New bill.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
See fiscal note.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
Immediately.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
7544--A
2023-2024 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
May 25, 2023
___________
Introduced by M. of A. RA, McDONOUGH -- read once and referred to the
Committee on Governmental Employees -- recommitted to the Committee on
Governmental Employees in accordance with Assembly Rule 3, sec. 2 --
committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and
recommitted to said committee
AN ACT granting retroactive membership with Tier IV status in the New
York state and local employees' retirement system to Dawn Ward
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 Dawn Ward, who was employed with the village of Kensington with a start
3 date of November 1, 1993, and who is currently a member of the New York
4 state and local employees' retirement system, who through no fault of
5 her own did not become a member of the New York state and local employ-
6 ees' retirement system on November 1, 1993 when first employed by the
7 village of Kensington, shall be deemed to have been a member of the New
8 York state and local employees' retirement system on such date she
9 commenced her employment and shall be granted Tier IV status, provided
10 that an application is filed with the head of the New York state and
11 local employees' retirement system within one year from the effective
12 date of this act. Upon the granting of such retroactive membership,
13 Dawn Ward shall not be granted a refund of any employee contribution
14 made by her to the New York state and local employees' retirement
15 system.
16 § 2. All past services costs associated with the implementation of
17 this act shall be borne by the village of Kensington.
18 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
FISCAL NOTE.--Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50:
This bill would provide Dawn Ward with a date of membership of Novem-
ber 11, 1993, their date of first employment with the Village of Kens-
ington, resulting in Tier 4 status in the New York State and Local
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD11489-05-4
A. 7544--A 2
Employees’ Retirement System. Dawn Ward is currently a Tier 5 member.
There will be no refund of member contributions.
If this bill is enacted during the 2024 Legislative Session, we antic-
ipate that there will be an increase of approximately $2,100 in the
annual contributions of the Village of Great Neck, $640 in the annual
contributions of the Village of Kensington, and $160 in the annual
contributions of the Village of Baxter Estates for the fiscal year
ending March 31, 2025. In future years this cost will vary as the bill-
ing rates and salary of Dawn Ward change.
In addition to the annual contributions discussed above, there will be
an immediate past service cost of approximately $300 which will be borne
by the Village of Kensington as a one-time payment. This estimate
assumes that payment will be made on February 1, 2025.
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 January 22, 2024, and intended for use only
during the 2024 Legislative Session, is Fiscal Note No. 2024-79,
prepared by the Actuary for the New York State and Local Retirement
System.
