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: A8827
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
additional 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 bene-
fits 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 amendments 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:
New bill.
STATE AND LOCAL FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
See fiscal note.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
8827
IN ASSEMBLY
January 18, 2024
___________
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 final
14 average salary, for service beyond twenty-five years and for non-fire
15 marshal county service the benefit is increased by one-sixtieth of final
16 average salary for each year of additional service credit.
17 § 2. All past service costs associated with implementing the
18 provisions of this act shall be borne by the county of Nassau and may be
19 amortized over ten years.
20 § 3. Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary none of the
21 provisions of this act shall be subject to the appropriation requirement
22 of section twenty-five of the retirement and social security law.
23 § 4. This act shall take effect immediately.
FISCAL NOTE.--Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50:
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD11201-05-4
A. 8827 2
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 2024 Legislative Session, we antic-
ipate that there will be an increase of approximately $50,000 in the
annual contributions of Nassau County for the fiscal year ending March
31, 2025. 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 $770,000 which will be
borne by Nassau County as a one-time payment. This estimate assumes that
payment will be made on February 1, 2025. If Nassau County elects to
amortize this cost over a 10-year period, the cost for each year includ-
ing interest would be $98,400.
These estimated costs are based on 43 affected members employed by
Nassau County, with annual salary of approximately $5.5 million as of
March 31, 2023.
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 3, 2024, and intended for use only during
the 2024 Legislative Session, is Fiscal Note No. 2024-21, prepared by
the Actuary for the New York State and Local Retirement System.
