N.Y. Retirement & Social Security Law § 323: Employers' contributions and their use; pension accumulation fund

§ 323. Employers' contributions and their use; pension accumulation

fund. a. Except as otherwise provided pursuant to this article, the

pension accumulation fund shall be the fund in which shall be

accumulated:

1. All contributions made by employers, and

2. All income received from the investments of the police and fire

retirement system, and

3. All monies received from all other sources and which are not

required to be credited to any other fund.

b. Each employer shall make three contributions annually. They shall

be known as the normal contribution, the deficiency contribution, and

the administration contribution. The rates thereof shall be computed by

the actuary.

1. Normal contribution. The rate of such contribution shall be applied

to the members' annual compensation earned during the previous fiscal

year. Such rate shall be a uniform and constant rate per centum of

annual compensation. When applied to the compensation of the average new

entrant during the remaining period of his or her membership, such rate

shall be computed to be sufficient to provide all the benefits, other

than those on account of prior service, granted by this article and

which are payable from funds contributed to the pension accumulation

fund.

Such rate shall be computed each year by means of an actuarial

valuation as prescribed in section three hundred eleven of this article

and as authorized by section three hundred twenty-three-a of this title.

2. Deficiency contribution.

(a) In the case of employers who were participating in the state

employees' retirement system on March thirty-first, nineteen hundred

sixty-seven, the rate of such contribution shall continue to be the rate

determined for such participating employer pursuant to law. Such rate

may be varied, however, if an adjustment is necessitated by reason of

the allowance of additional prior service credits.

(b) In the case of an employer who elects to participate in the police

and fire retirement system on or after April first, nineteen hundred

sixty-seven and before March thirty-first, nineteen hundred ninety-nine,

an initial actuarial valuation shall be made to determine the accrued

liability of such employer by reason of the prior service of those of

its employees who are members of the retirement system. The rate of

deficiency contribution for such employer shall then be determined. Such

rate shall be that proportion of the total annual compensation of such

employees as is equivalent to four per centum of such accrued liability.

Such rate shall be applied to the employer's payroll of members, as used

in the annual valuation. The cost of making such initial valuation shall

be assessed against and paid by such employer.

Notwithstanding the above, for employers who commence participation in

the retirement system on or after April first, nineteen hundred

ninety-nine, the accrued liability shall be amortized in equal annual

installments over a twenty-five year period. With respect to such

employers the cost of making such initial valuation shall be assessed

against and paid by the employer. The provisions of subdivisions c, d

and e of this section shall not apply to employers who commence

participation in the retirement system on or after April first, nineteen

hundred ninety-nine.

(c) The amount of each annual deficiency contribution payable by every

employer shall be at least three per centum greater than the amount for

the preceding year.

(d) The comptroller shall approve the discontinuance of the state's

deficiency contribution on account of members employed by it when:

(1) The total amount in the pension accumulation fund on account of

all members, and

(2) The present value of future deficiency contributions still to be

paid by other employers, and

(3) The present value of future normal contributions, on the basis of

the rate of normal contribution then in effect, shall equal the then

present value of the total liability of such fund on the basis of the

tables then in use.

(e) Unless previously discontinued, or unless hereafter discontinued

pursuant to other provisions of law, the deficiency contribution of a

participating employer shall be discontinued when the total amount of

deficiency contributions paid by such employer at least equals or shall

hereafter equal such percentum of its initial accrued liability computed

by the actuary as shall equal that percentum of the state's initial

accrued liability paid by deficiency contributions during the period

equal to the period last determined by the actuary as the deficiency

payment period. Nothing herein contained shall be deemed to give any

participating employer any valid claim or cause of action for refund or

credit for any sum or sums paid or to be paid for fiscal years prior to

and including the fiscal year ending March thirty-first, nineteen

hundred sixty-six nor to excuse any participating employer from the

payment of any contributions for such fiscal years.

3. Administration contribution.

(a) The expenses of the retirement system, including an amount

allocated to amortize over a period of thirty years, with interest, the

cost of construction of the retirement system building, and the cost of

maintenance of such building, for each fiscal year shall be determined

at the close of each such year. The ratio of such expenses to the total

compensation of all members, as used in the actuarial valuation, shall

be the rate of such administration contribution. Such rate shall be

applied to each employer's payroll of members, as used in the annual

valuation.

(b) All such expenses shall be paid out of the pension accumulation

fund which shall be reimbursed through administration contributions and

other monies received from employers pursuant to this article.

(c) Notwithstanding any other provision of this subdivision or any

other law, the administrative contribution for a year, as determined

pursuant to paragraph one of subdivision b of this section, shall be

paid from the pension accumulation fund if payment from such fund will

not affect the normal contribution for such year.

c. Additional contributions shall be made in accordance therewith by

employers obligated to contribute to the retirement system pursuant to

any other section of this article.

d. When a pension or a pension-providing-for-increased-take-home-pay,

if any, becomes payable to or on account of any member, a reserve, in an

amount computed by the actuary to be necessary to provide the pension or

pension-providing-for-increased-take-home-pay, if any, granted in each

such case, shall be transferred from the pension accumulation fund to

the pension reserve fund.

e. Whenever the comptroller, upon recommendation by the actuary, shall

determine that it is necessary to increase the reserves held in the

annuity reserve fund or the pension reserve fund, he may direct that the

amount so needed shall be transferred thereto from the pension

accumulation fund.

f. The amount of regular interest which is to be credited to the

annuity savings fund, the annuity reserve fund and the pension reserve

fund, and the amount of special interest, if any, which shall be

credited to the annuity savings accounts in the annuity savings fund,

shall be determined after the close of each fiscal year. Each such

amount thereupon shall be transferred from the pension accumulation fund

to each such fund.