S T A T E O F N E W Y O R K
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5796--A
2015-2016 Regular Sessions
I N A S S E M B L Y
March 4, 2015
___________
Introduced by M. of A. DenDEKKER -- 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 authorizing Daniel Cox to apply to re-enter the pension system of
the city of New York
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
Section 1. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary,
Daniel Cox, a former member of the New York city employees' retirement
system, who was employed by the parks and recreation department of the
city of New York from 1982 until 1987, at which time he continued work-
ing for the city of New York in the district attorney's office until his
retirement in 1997, and who, for reasons not ascribable to his own
negligence, failed to timely apply to re-enter the New York city pension
system upon his return to service in November 2007 with the city of New
York Business Integrity Commission, shall be deemed to have timely filed
his application to re-enter the city of New York pension system, if on
or before December 31, 2016 he shall file an application therefor with
the New York city employees' retirement system.
S 2. All costs attributable to this act shall be borne by the city of
New York.
S 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
FISCAL NOTE -- Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50:
PROVISIONS OF PROPOSED LEGISLATION: The proposed legislation would
allow Mr. Daniel Cox to rejoin the New York City Employees' Retirement
System (NYCERS) as of his rehire date of November 5, 2007 as if he had
filed the application on time. Mr. Cox would be a Tier 4 Member of the
NYCERS 55/25 Retirement Plan.
EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD08000-02-6
A. 5796--A 2
All costs associated with the implementation of this proposed legis-
lation would be borne by NYCERS.
The Effective Date of the proposed legislation would be the Date of
Enactment.
BACKGROUND - GENERAL: Daniel Cox was a member of NYCERS from June 1,
1982 until his termination of employment on July 19, 1997. He began
receiving his pension under the DA Investigator 25 Year Plan in July,
2007 as a Tier 2 retiree and subsequently returned to work for the New
York Business Integrity Commission on November 5, 2007 but failed to
file the form to rejoin NYCERS. He has continued to receive his pension
payable under the DA Investigator 25 Year Plan since July, 2007. The
proposed legislation would allow Mr. Cox to rejoin NYCERS as of November
5, 2007 as a member of the NYCERS 55/25 Retirement Plan for Tier 4
Members and ultimately receive a pension upon his subsequent retirement
based on all of his years of membership.
In order to determine the financial impact of this proposal, we have
assumed that Mr. Cox will contribute the required Basic and Additional
Member Contributions required under the NYCERS 55/25 Retirement Plan for
Tier 4 Members. After reflecting Mr. Cox's total contributions under his
prior plan (the DA Investigator 25 Year Plan), Mr. Cox would need to
contribute an additional amount of approximately $85,000 as of June 30,
2015.
BACKGROUND: PENSION PREVIOUSLY RECEIVED: Mr. Cox has been receiving a
pension under the maximum form of payment (i.e., payable to him as long
as he is alive) since July 3, 2007 under the DA Investigator 25 Year
Plan. His accrued pension is $11,714.89 per year. However since Mr. Cox
returned to work for the New York Business Integrity Commission, he is
subject to the earnings limitations set forth in New York State Retire-
ment and Social Security Law (RSSL) Section 212. Under RSSL Section
212, any earnings greater than $30,000 results in a suspension of his
retirement allowance. As a result, Mr. Cox's retirement allowance has
been suspended in each year that his salary has exceeded $30,000.
If this legislation is passed, Mr. Cox would receive a pension based
on all service. For purposes of this Fiscal Note, we have assumed that
the Actuarial Present Value (APV) of the pension he has previously
received would be offset against the pension he will receive upon his
second retirement.
FINANCIAL IMPACT - ACTUARIAL PRESENT VALUES: The estimated financial
impact of this proposal has been calculated based on the difference as
of June 30, 2015 between (1) the actuarial present value of the retire-
ment benefits Mr. Cox is expected to receive if this proposed legis-
lation were enacted (based on all service with NYCERS) and (2) the accu-
mulated value of retirement payments he has received plus the APV of
Future Benefits payable to Mr. Cox if this proposed legislation were not
enacted.
Based on the actuarial assumptions and methods described herein, the
enactment of this proposed legislation would increase the Actuarial
Present Value of Benefits (APVB) and the Unfunded Actuarial Accrued
Liability (UAAL) of NYCERS by approximately $60,000 as of June 30, 2015,
assuming that Mr. Cox contributes the additional $85,000 described
above.
FINANCIAL IMPACT - ANNUAL EMPLOYER CONTRIBUTIONS: In accordance with
Section 13.638.2(k-2) of the Administrative Code of the City of New York
(ACNY), new UAAL attributable to benefit changes are to be amortized as
determined by the Actuary but generally over the remaining working life-
time of those impacted by the benefit changes.
A. 5796--A 3
Based on a calculation of the remaining working lifetime of approxi-
mately five years for Mr. Cox as of June 30, 2015, and the Actuary's
actuarial assumptions and methods used in the Preliminary June 30, 2015
valuations and those described later in this Fiscal Note, the enactment
of this proposed legislation would increase annual employer contrib-
utions by approximately $18,000 per year for 4 years.
This increase in employer contributions has been estimated assuming
that the increase in UAAL would be financed over a 5-year period, which
will be 4 payments under the One-Year Lag Methodology, using level
dollar payments.
If enacted into law during the 2016 Legislative Session, increased
employer contributions would be first recognized in Fiscal Year 2018.
OTHER COSTS: Not measured in this Fiscal Note is the impact on admin-
istrative costs or Other Postemployment Benefit (OPEB) costs.
ACTUARIAL ASSUMPTIONS AND METHODS: Additional APVB, UAAL and employer
contributions presented herein have been calculated based on the
Actuary's actuarial assumptions and methods in effect for the Prelimi-
nary June 30, 2015 (Lag) actuarial valuation used to determine the
Preliminary Fiscal Year 2017 employer contributions of NYCERS.
STATEMENT OF ACTUARIAL OPINION: I, Sherry S. Chan, am the Chief Actu-
ary for the New York City Retirement Systems. I am an Associate of the
Society of Actuaries, a Fellow of the Conference of Consulting Actuaries
and a Member of the American Academy of Actuaries. I meet the Qualifica-
tion Standards of the American Academy of Actuaries to render the actu-
arial opinion contained herein.
FISCAL NOTE IDENTIFICATION: This Fiscal Note 2016-30 dated May 20,
2016, was prepared by the Chief Actuary for the New York City Employees'
Retirement System. This estimate is intended for use only during the
2016 Legislative Session.