S 6692: Authorizes the county of Monroe to offer an optional twenty year retirement plan to Carl J. Zimmerman, a deputy sheriff employed by the county of Monroe.

  
  STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 6692 2025-2026 Regular Sessions  IN SENATE March 19, 2025 ___________ Introduced by Sen. COONEY -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Civil Service and Pensions AN ACT to authorize the county of Monroe to offer an optional twenty year retirement plan to Carl J. Zimmerman, a sergeant employed by such county The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, 2 the county of Monroe, a participating employer in the New York state 3 employees' retirement system, which has elected to offer the optional 4 twenty year retirement plan, established pursuant to article 14-B of the 5 retirement and social security law, to sergeants employed by such coun- 6 ty, is hereby authorized to make participation in such plan available to 7 Carl J. Zimmerman, a sergeant employed by the county of Monroe with a 8 start date of October 29, 1990, who, for reasons not ascribable to his 9 own negligence, failed to make a timely application to participate in 10 such optional twenty year plan contained in article 14-B of the retire- 11 ment and social security law. The county of Monroe may so elect by 12 filing with the state comptroller, on or before 180 days after this act 13 shall have become a law, a resolution of its governing body together 14 with certification that such sergeant did not bar themself from partic- 15 ipation in the retirement plan as a result of their own negligence. 16 Thereafter, such sergeant may individually elect to be covered by the 17 provisions of sections 552 and 553 of the retirement and social security 18 law, and the retirement system shall credit service from October 29, 19 1990 to present under sections 552 and 553 of the retirement and social 20 security law. Such member may effectuate by filing an election with the 21 retirement system within one year of the effective date of this act. 22 § 2. All employer past service costs associated with implementing the 23 provisions of this act shall be borne by the county of Monroe and may be 24 amortized over a five-year period. EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD03623-02-5 
 S. 6692 2 1 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately. FISCAL NOTE.--Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50: This bill would allow Carl J. Zimmerman, a current member of the New York State and Local Employees' Retirement System employed as a sergeant by Monroe County and covered under the 25-year retirement plan of §89-p of the Retirement and Social Security Law (RSSL), to elect to be covered under the 20-year plan of §552 and §553 of the RSSL. If this bill is enacted during the 2025 Legislative Session, we antic- ipate that there will be an increase of approximately $13,000 in the annual contributions of Monroe County for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2026. In future years this cost will vary as the billing rates and salary of Carl J. Zimmerman change. In addition to the annual contributions discussed above, there will be an immediate past service cost of approximately $120,000 which will be borne by Monroe County as a one-time payment. This estimate assumes that payment will be made on February 1, 2026. If Monroe County elects to amortize this cost over a five-year period, the cost for each year including interest would be $26,800. 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 February 19, 2025, and intended for use only during the 2025 Legislative Session, is Fiscal Note No. 2025-59. As Chief Actuary of the New York State and Local Retirement System, I, Aaron Schottin Young, hereby certify that this analysis complies with applicable 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.