S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   7757
 
                        2025-2026 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                                May 5, 2025
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sen.  WEBB  --  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 Binghamton to offer an optional  retire-
   ment plan to firefighter Scott Pavlick
 
   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 Binghamton, in the county of Broome, a participating employ-
 er in the New York state and local police and  fire  retirement  system,
 which previously elected to offer the optional one-sixtieths after twen-
 ty-five  years  of  total  creditable  service,  established pursuant to
 subdivision f of section 384 of the retirement and social security  law,
 to  firefighters employed by such city who are covered by section 384 of
 the retirement and social security law, is  hereby  authorized  to  make
 participation  in  such  plan  available to Scott Pavlick, a firefighter
 employed by the city of Binghamton, who, for reasons not  ascribable  to
 his  own  negligence, failed to make a timely application to participate
 in such optional one-sixtieths for his twenty-five year retirement plan.
 The city of Binghamton may so elect  by  filing  with  the  state  comp-
 troller,  within nine months of the effective date of this act, a resol-
 ution of its own common council together with  certification  that  such
 firefighter  did  not  bar himself from participation in such retirement
 plan as a result of his own negligence. Thereafter, such firefighter may
 elect to be covered by the provisions of subdivision f of section 384 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 comptroller within one
 year of the effective date of this act.
   § 2. All employer past service costs associated with implementing  the
 provisions  of this act shall be borne by the city of Binghamton and may
 be amortized over a ten-year period.
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD10869-02-5
              

 S. 7757                             2
 
   § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
   FISCAL NOTE.--Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50:
   This  bill would allow the City of Binghamton to reopen the provisions
 of section 384.f. of the Retirement and Social Security Law  (RSSL)  for
 firefighter  Scott  Pavlick,  who is currently covered under §384 of the
 RSSL.
   If this bill is enacted during the 2025 Legislative Session, we antic-
 ipate that there will be an increase  of  approximately  $2,000  in  the
 annual  contributions  of  the  City  of  Binghamton for the fiscal year
 ending March 31, 2026. In future years this cost will vary as the  bill-
 ing rates and salary of Scott Pavlick change.
   In addition to the annual contributions discussed above, there will be
 an  immediate  past  service cost of approximately $33,200 which will be
 borne by the City of Binghamton as a  one-time  payment.  This  estimate
 assumes  that  payment  will be made on February 1, 2026. If the City of
 Binghamton elects to amortize this cost over a 10 year period, the  cost
 for each year including interest would be $4,240.
   Summary of relevant resources:
   Membership  data as of March 31, 2024 was used in measuring the impact
 of the proposed change, the same data used in the April 1, 2024 actuari-
 al valuation. Distributions and other statistics can  be  found  in  the
 2024  Report  of the Actuary and the 2024 Annual Comprehensive Financial
 Report.  The actuarial assumptions and methods used are described in the
 2024 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, 2024 New York State and Local Retirement System Financial Statements
 and Supplementary Information.
   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 April 9, 2025, and intended for use only during
 the 2025 Legislative Session, is Fiscal  Note  No.  2025-127.  As  Chief
 Actuary  of  the  New  York  State and Local Retirement System, I, Aaron
 Schottin Young, hereby certify that this analysis complies with applica-
 ble Actuarial Standards of Practice as well as the Code of  Professional
 Conduct  and Qualification Standards for Actuaries Issuing Statements of
 Actuarial Opinion of the American Academy of Actuaries, of which I am  a
 member.