Senate Bill S9663

                                 
BILL NUMBER: S9663

SPONSOR: JACKSON
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the administrative code of the city of New York, in
relation to promotions of police detectives, sergeants, and lieutenants
for retirement purposes

 
PURPOSE:

Increases the annual salary, imputed for final average salary purposes
with the New York city police pension fund, of police detectives,
sergeants, and lieutenants that have accrued twenty-five or more years
of service credit with the New York city police pension fund.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1 amends Secion 14-114 of the administrative code of the city of
New York to:

1. Increase the annual salary at a rate of five percentum for such final
              

average salary period , imputed for final average salary purposes with
the New York city police pension fund, of police detectives, sergeants,
and lieutenants that have accrued twenty-five years of service credit
with the New York city police pension fund.

2. Increase the annual salary at a rate of ten percentum for such final
average salary period, imputed for final average salary purposes with
the New York city police pension fund, of police detectives, sergeants,
and lieutenants that have accrued thirty years of service credit with
the New York city police pension fund.

3. Increase the annual salary at a rate of fifteen percentum for such
final average salary period, imputed for final average salary purposes
with the New York city police pension fund, of police detectives,
sergeants, and lieutenants that have accrued thirty-five years of
service credit with the New York city police pension fund.

Section 2 is the effective date.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

The City of New York Police Department is currently facing a retention
crisis, as our service members flock to other departments offering
(either actually or perceived) better salary and benefits packages after
gaining valuable training and experience with the City of New York. In
addition to this compensation disparity, these men and women of the
service face great danger every day as crime continues to rise to
historic heights in New York City and violence on law enforcement offi-
cers persists.

In addition to recruitment and retention efforts to retain valuable
knowledge and law enforcement experience, it is imperative to legislate
incentives to be promoted out of the rank of Police Officer, in order
retain and develop agency leadership. Additionally, this bill would
provide equity to the members retiring in the rank of Detective,
Sergeant, and Lieutenant with the current benefits afforded those retir-
ing in the rank of Police Officer, or Captain or above.
Currently, New York City Administrative Code § 14-111 provides that a
First Grade Police Officer who has served twenty-five years in rank
shall have their salary for pension purposes imputed as that of a Third
Grade Detective, and a Police Officer with thirty years in rank, calcu-
lated as that of a top-pay Sergeant. Similarly, § 14-114(c) provides
that when a Captain has served five years in rank, they shall have their
salary for pension purposes imputed as that of a Deputy Inspector and
continues that after ten years in rank as a Captain, should be calcu-
lated as that of an Inspector, and after fifteen years in rank as a
Captain, as that of a Deputy Chief.

The current state of the legislation bookends the rank structure for the
Department but leaves little long-term retention incentive to those
police officers serving in the rank of detective, sergeant, or lieuten-
ant. Moreover, it may have the adverse effect of disincentivizing police
officers to take civil service tests or seek discretionary promotions.

This proposed legislation roughly mirrors the concept of Administrative
Code § 14-111 afforded to First Grade Police Officers.  The salary
difference between the ranks of Police Officer and Detective Third Grade
is approximately a 5% difference and a 10% difference between Police
Officer and Sergeant. Extending this to a written expression of percent-
ages and removing the rank structure provides equality between ranks
while providing a pro-rata pension incentive to accrue decades of
service credit in promoted ranks.

As indicated by this data, many Police Officers are choosing to leave
the job at a young age after a relatively short career. Experienced
officers, incentivized by this bill, who extend their careers will
provide greater public safety through their knowledge and experience as
well as serve as mentors to the younger, less experienced officers. The
increased compensation in retirement provided by the proposed bill will
motivate experienced Police Officers to not only seek promotion out of
the rank of Police Officer, but also encourage retention by delaying
collection of their retirement allowance by providing the incentive of
benefits commensurate with the ranks above them.

By encouraging active members to prolong their public careers, the
NYPD's personnel services and associated pension fringe benefit should
decrease. To ensure public safety, adequate police staffing levels must
be maintained, which requires law enforcement officers be replaced as
they retire. The compensation paid to a retiree, which includes health
benefits, would be compounded by the new hire's associated salary and
fringe benefits, creating a greater expense to the City of New York.
Generally, the fringe benefit cost to an employer associated with
pension costs is greater for new entrants than retiring members.

 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

New bill.

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.