S T A T E O F N E W Y O R K
________________________________________________________________________
5955
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
I N S E N A T E
May 16, 2019
___________
Introduced by Sen. MAY -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Civil Service and Pensions
AN ACT to authorize the city of Syracuse, in the county of Onondaga to
offer an optional twenty year retirement plan to police officer Thomas
R. Nicolini
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,
the city of Syracuse, in the county of Onondaga, a participating employ-
er in the New York state and local police and fire retirement system,
which previously elected to offer the optional twenty year retirement
plan, established pursuant to section 384-d of the retirement and social
security law, to police officers employed by such town, is hereby
authorized to make participation in such plan available to Thomas R.
Nicolini, a police officer employed by the city of Syracuse with a start
date of July 23, 1999, who, for reasons not ascribable to his own negli-
gence, failed to make a timely application to participate in such
optional twenty year retirement plan. The city of Syracuse may so elect
by filing with the state comptroller, within six months from the effec-
tive date of this act, a resolution of its town board together with
certification that such police officer did not bar himself from partic-
ipation in such retirement plan as a result of his own negligence. Ther-
eafter, such police officer may elect to be covered by the provisions of
section 384-d of the retirement and social security law, and shall be
entitled to the full rights and benefits associated with coverage under
such section, by filing a request to that effect with the state comp-
troller within six months from the effective date of such resolution.
§ 2. All past costs associated with implementing the provisions of
this act shall be borne by the city of Syracuse.
§ 3. 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.
LBD11463-03-9
S. 5955 2
This bill will allow the City of Syracuse to elect to reopen the
provisions of Section 384-d of the Retirement and Social Security Law
for police officer Thomas R. Nicolini.
If this bill is enacted during the 2019 legislative session, we antic-
ipate that there will be an increase of approximately $9,500 in the
annual contributions of the City of Syracuse for the fiscal year ending
March 31, 2020. In future years, this cost will vary as the billing
rates and salary of Officer Nicolini change.
In addition to the annual contributions discussed above, there will be
an immediate past service cost of approximately $384,000 which will be
borne by the City of Syracuse as a one-time payment. This estimate is
based on the assumption that payment will be made on February 1, 2020.
Summary of relevant resources:
The membership data used in measuring the impact of the proposed
change was the same as that used in the March 31, 2018 actuarial valu-
ation. Distributions and other statistics can be found in the 2018
Report of the Actuary and the 2018 Comprehensive Annual Financial
Report.
The actuarial assumptions and methods used are described in the 2015,
2016, 2017 and 2018 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, 2018
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 May 15, 2019, and intended for use only during
the 2019 Legislative Session, is Fiscal Note No. 2019-110, prepared by
the Actuary for the New York State and Local Retirement System.
