S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
________________________________________________________________________

                                 1577--A

                       2015-2016 Regular Sessions

                            I N  S E N A T E

                            January 13, 2015
                               ___________

Introduced  by  Sens.  DeFRANCISCO,  VALESKY  --  read twice and ordered
  printed, and when printed to be committed to the  Committee  on  Civil
  Service  and Pensions -- recommitted to the Committee on Civil Service
  and Pensions in accordance with Senate Rule 6,  sec.  8  --  committee
  discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted
  to said committee

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, on or before December 31, 2016, a
resolution of its town  board  together  with  certification  that  such
police officer did not bar himself from participation in such retirement
plan  as a result of his own negligence. Thereafter, 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 comptroller on or before
June 30, 2017.

 EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                      [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                           LBD07459-03-6
              

S. 1577--A                          2

  S 2. All past costs associated with  implementing  the  provisions  of
this act shall be borne by the city of Syracuse.
  S 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
  FISCAL NOTE.--Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50:
  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 enact and Officer Nicolini becomes covered under the
provisions of Section  384-d,  we  anticipate  that  there  will  be  an
increase of approximately $9,700 in the annual contributions of the City
of  Syracuse for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2017. 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 $303,000 which would 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, 2017.
  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, 2015  actuarial  valu-
ation.    Distributions  and  other  statistics can be found in the 2015
Report of the  Actuary  and  the  2015  Comprehensive  Annual  Financial
Report.
  The  actuarial  assumptions and methods used are described in the 2015
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 Asset and GASB Disclosures are found in the March 31,  2015
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 estimate, dated February 23, 2016,  and  intended  for  use  only
during  the  2016  Legislative  Session,  is  Fiscal  Note  No. 2016-69,
prepared by the Actuary for the New  York  State  and  Local  Retirement
System.