N.Y. Retirement & Social Security Law § 445-d*2: Optional twenty-year/age fifty improved benefit retirement program for Triborough bridge and tunnel members

* § 445-d. Optional twenty-year/age fifty improved benefit retirement

program for Triborough bridge and tunnel members. a. Definitions. The

following words and phrases as used in this section shall have the

following meanings unless a different meaning is plainly required by the

context.

1. "Retirement system" shall mean the New York city employees'

retirement system.

2. "Triborough bridge and tunnel member" shall mean a member of the

retirement system who is subject to the provisions of this article, who

is employed by the Triborough bridge and tunnel authority as a bridge

and tunnel officer, sergeant, or lieutenant in a non-managerial position

and who has elected to contribute to the retirement system on the basis

of a minimum retirement period of twenty-year/age fifty of allowable

service rendered pursuant to the optional retirement provisions as set

forth in paragraph eight of this subdivision.

3. "Twenty-year/age fifty improved benefit retirement program" shall

mean all the terms and conditions of this section.

4. "Starting date of the twenty-year/age fifty improved benefit

retirement program" shall mean the date of enactment of the act which

added this section, as such date is certified pursuant to section

forty-one of the legislative law.

5. "Participant in the twenty-year/age fifty improved benefit

retirement program" shall mean any Triborough bridge and tunnel member

who, under the applicable provisions of subdivision b of this section,

is entitled to the rights, benefits and privileges and is subject to the

obligations of the twenty-year/age fifty improved benefit retirement

program, as applicable to him or her.

6. "Administrative code" shall mean the administrative code of the

city of New York.

7. "Accumulated deductions" shall mean accumulated deductions as

defined in subdivision eleven of section 13-101 of the administrative

code.

8. "Optional retirement provisions" shall mean the right to receive a

retirement allowance upon (a) the attainment of age fifty, and (b) the

completion of twenty years of service.

b. Election of twenty-year/age fifty improved benefit retirement

program. 1. Subject to the provisions of paragraph five of this

subdivision, any person who is a Triborough bridge and tunnel member on

the starting date of the twenty-year/age fifty improved benefit

retirement program may elect to become a participant in the

twenty-year/age fifty improved benefit retirement program by filing,

within one hundred eighty days after such starting date, a duly executed

application for such participation with the retirement system, provided

he or she is such a bridge and tunnel member on the date such

application is filed.

2. Subject to the provisions of paragraph five of this subdivision,

any person who becomes a Triborough bridge and tunnel member after the

starting date of the twenty-year/age fifty improved benefit retirement

program may elect to become a participant in the twenty-year/age fifty

improved benefit retirement program by filing, within one hundred eighty

days after becoming such a bridge and tunnel member, a duly executed

application for such participation with the retirement system, provided

he or she is such a bridge and tunnel member on the date such

application is filed.

3. Any election to be a participant in the twenty-year/age fifty

improved benefit retirement program shall be irrevocable.

4. Where any participant in the twenty-year/age fifty improved benefit

retirement program shall cease to hold a position in the Triborough

bridge and tunnel service, he or she shall cease to be such a

participant and, during any period in which such a person does not hold

such a bridge and tunnel position, he or she shall not be a participant

in the twenty-year/age fifty improved benefit retirement program and

shall not be eligible for the benefits of subdivision c of this section.

5. Where any participant in the twenty-year/age fifty improved benefit

retirement program terminates service in the Triborough bridge and

tunnel service and returns to such service as a bridge and tunnel member

at a later date, he or she shall again become such a participant on that

date.

c. Service retirement benefits. Notwithstanding any other provision of

law to the contrary, where a participant in the twenty-year/age fifty

improvement benefit retirement program, who is otherwise qualified for a

retirement allowance pursuant to the optional retirement provisions set

forth in subdivision a of this section, has made and/or paid, while he

or she is a Triborough bridge and tunnel member, all additional member

contributions and interest (if any) required by subdivision d of this

section, then:

1. that participant, while he or she remains a participant, shall not

be subject to the provisions of subdivision a of section four hundred

forty-five of this chapter; and

2. if that participant, while such a participant, retires from

service, he or she shall not be subject to the provisions of section

four hundred forty-four of this chapter; and

3. his or her retirement allowance shall be an amount, on account of

the required minimum period of service, equal to one-half of his or her

final average salary, plus an amount for each additional year of

allowable service, or fraction thereof, beyond such required minimum

period of service equal to one and one-half percent of his or her final

average salary; and

4. the maximum retirement benefit computed without optional

modification payable to that participant upon his or her retirement for

service as such a participant shall equal that payable upon completion

of thirty years of service.

d. Additional member contributions. 1. In addition to the member

contributions required pursuant to section 13-162 of the administrative

code, each participant in the twenty-year/age fifty improved benefit

retirement program in the rank of bridge and tunnel officer shall

contribute an additional five and fifty one-hundredths percent of his or

her compensation and each participant in the twenty-year/age fifty

retirement program in the rank of sergeant or lieutenant shall

contribute to the retirement system an additional six percent of his or

her compensation earned from all allowable service as a Triborough

bridge and tunnel member rendered on and after the date which is one

hundred eighty days prior to the starting date of the twenty-year/age

fifty improved benefit retirement program. A participant in the

twenty-year/age fifty improved benefit retirement program shall

contribute additional member contributions until the latest of (i) the

date as of which he or she is eligible to retire with twenty years of

creditable service in the Triborough bridge and tunnel authority under

such retirement program, (ii) the third anniversary of the starting date

of the twenty-year/age fifty improved benefit retirement program, or

(iii) the third anniversary of the date that he or she became a

participant in the twenty-year/age fifty improved benefit retirement

program.

2. Commencing with the first full payroll period after each person

becomes a participant in the twenty-year/age fifty improved benefit

retirement program, additional member contributions at the rate

specified in paragraph one of this subdivision shall be deducted

(subject to the applicable provisions of section 13-125.2 of the

administrative code of the city of New York) from the compensation of

such participant on each and every payroll of such participant for each

and every payroll period.

3. (i) Subject to the provisions of subparagraph (ii) of this

paragraph, where any additional member contributions required by

paragraph one of this subdivision are not paid by deductions from a

participant's compensation pursuant to paragraph two of this

subdivision:

(A) that participant shall be charged with a contribution deficiency

consisting of such unpaid amounts, together with interest thereon,

compounded annually; and

(B) such interest on each amount of undeducted contributions shall

accrue from the end of the payroll period for which such amount would

have been deducted from compensation if he or she had been a participant

at the beginning of that payroll period, until such amount is paid to

the retirement system; and

(C) the rate of interest to be applied to each such amount during the

period for which interest accrues on that amount shall be equal to the

rate or rates of interest required by law to be used during that same

period to credit interest on the accumulated deductions of retirement

system members.

(ii) Except as provided in subparagraph (iii) of this paragraph, no

interest shall be due on any unpaid additional contributions which are

not attributable to the period prior to the first full payroll period

referred to in paragraph two of this subdivision.

(iii) Should any person who, pursuant to paragraph seven of this

subdivision, has withdrawn any additional member contributions (and any

interest paid thereon) again become a participant in the twenty-year/age

fifty improved benefit retirement program pursuant to paragraph five of

subdivision b of this section, an appropriate amount shall be included

in such participant's contribution deficiency (including interest

thereon as calculated pursuant to subparagraph (i) of this paragraph) as

if such additional contributions had never been made.

(iv) Notwithstanding any other provisions of this paragraph, no

participant shall be charged interest for any period prior to March

twenty-fifth, nineteen hundred ninety-eight with respect to any

contributions owed with respect to any payroll period beginning prior to

such date.

4. The board of trustees of the retirement system may, consistent with

the provisions of this subdivision, promulgate regulations for the

payment of such additional member contributions, and any interest

thereon, by a participant in the twenty-year/age fifty improved benefit

retirement program (including the deduction of such contributions, and

any interest thereon, from his or her compensation).

5. Where a contribution deficiency chargeable to a participant

pursuant to paragraph three of this subdivision has not been paid in

full while the participant is a Triborough bridge and tunnel member,

that participant shall not be entitled to the benefits provided in

subdivision c of this section.

6. Where a participant has not paid in full any contribution

deficiency chargeable to him or her pursuant to paragraph three of this

subdivision, and a benefit, other than a refund of a member's

accumulated deductions or a refund of additional member contributions

pursuant to paragraph seven of this subdivision, becomes payable by the

retirement system to the participant or to his or her designated

beneficiary or estate, the actuarial equivalent of any such unpaid

amount shall be deducted from the benefit otherwise payable.

6-a. Notwithstanding paragraph five or six of this subdivision, where

a deficiency chargeable to a participant pursuant to paragraph three of

this subdivision has not been paid in full while the participant is a

Triborough bridge and tunnel member and such participant retires prior

to July first, two thousand seven, such participant may elect to be

covered by this paragraph. Such participant shall be entitled to the

benefits provided in subdivision c of this section provided that

participant authorizes the retirement system to deduct from such

benefits an amount which will result in the deficiency, plus associated

interest to date of final payment, being paid in full no later than July

first, two thousand seven or such earlier date as agreed to by the

participant. Such amount will be deducted in equal installments on a

monthly basis. Nothing in this paragraph shall prevent the participant

from making a partial payment of the amount of the deficiency at the

time of retirement so as to reduce the monthly payment nor to make a

lump sum payment equal to the amount of the total unpaid balance at any

time during the period of repayment.

7. (i) All additional member contributions required by this

subdivision (and any interest thereon) which are received by the

retirement system shall be paid into its contingent reserve fund and

shall be the property of the retirement system. Such additional member

contributions (and any interest thereon) shall not for any purpose be

deemed to be accumulated deductions of a member of the retirement system

while he or she is a participant in the twenty-year/age fifty improved

benefit retirement program or otherwise.

(ii) Should a participant in the twenty-year/age fifty improved

benefit retirement program, who has rendered less than fifteen years of

credited service cease to hold a position in such uniformed force for

any reason whatsoever, his or her accumulated additional member

contributions made pursuant to this subdivision (together with any

interest thereon paid to the retirement system) may be withdrawn by him

or her pursuant to procedures promulgated in regulations of the board of

trustees of the retirement system, together with interest thereon equal

to eight and one-quarter percent per annum, compounded annually.

(iii) Except as otherwise provided in subparagraph (ii) of this

paragraph, no member of the retirement system, while he or she is a

participant in such retirement program or otherwise, shall have a right

to withdraw such additional member contributions or any interest thereon

from the retirement system.

8. A member who has made the additional contributions specified by

this subdivision may borrow a portion of such contributions, pursuant to

the provisions of section six hundred thirteen-b of this chapter.

9. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, the

provisions of section one hundred thirty-eight-b of this chapter shall

not be applicable to the additional member contributions which are

required by this subdivision.

10. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, the

additional member contributions which are required by this subdivision

shall not be reduced under any program for increased-take-home-pay.

* NB There are 2 § 445-d's