Let Syracuse Firefighters Retire Early

Section 1. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, the City of Syracuse Fire Department, in the county of Onondaga, a participating employer 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 firefighters employed by such fire district, is hereby authorized to make participation in such plan available to Morgan McDole, Baraaka J. Titus and David Dunlap; firefighters employed by such fire department, who, for reasons not ascribable to their own negligence, failed to make a timely application to participate in such optional twenty year retirement plan. Thereafter, Morgan McDole, Baraaka J. Titus and David Dunlap 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 comptroller within six months from the effective date of this act.

§ 2. All past service costs associated with implementing the provisions of this act shall be borne by the City of Syracuse Fire Department and may be amortized over a period of ten years.

§ 3. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, this act shall be contingent upon the City of Syracuse Fire Department Board of Fire Commissioners passing a resolution requesting the enactment of

EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets

[ ] is old law to be omitted.

LBD07045-04-9

A. 6314 2

this legislation and providing copies of such resolution to each house of the legislature.

§ 4. This act shall take effect immediately.

FISCAL NOTE.--Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50:

This bill would allow the City of Syracuse to reopen the provisions of

Section 384-d of the Retirement and Social Security Law for firefighters

Morgan McDole, Baraaka J. Titus and David Dunlap.

If this bill is enacted during the 2019 legislative session and these

members become covered under the provisions of Section 384-d, we antic-

ipate that there will be an increase of approximately $21,000 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 these members change.

In addition to the annual contributions discussed above, there will be

an immediate past service cost of $339,000 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. If the City of

Syracuse elects to amortize this cost over a 10 year period, the cost

for the first year would be $45,100.

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 February 26, 2019, and intended for use only

during the 2019 Legislative Session, is Fiscal Note No. 2019-84,

prepared by the Actuary for the New York State and Local Retirement

System.