N.Y. Retirement & Social Security Law § 89-b: Optional twenty year retirement plan for sheriffs, under-sheriffs, and regular deputy sheriffs in counties which have elected to provide ...

§ 89-b. Optional twenty year retirement plan for sheriffs,

under-sheriffs, and regular deputy sheriffs in counties which have

elected to provide same. (a) Any member who is a sheriff, under-sheriff

or a regular deputy sheriff in any county who is engaged directly in

criminal law enforcement activities, may elect to contribute to the

retirement system on the basis of retirement after the completion of

twenty years of total creditable service pursuant to this section within

one year after the county wherein he is so engaged elects to make the

benefits provided herein available. One year or more after the filing of

an election, a member may withdraw any such election by written notice

duly acknowledged and filed with the comptroller.

(b) On and after a county elects to make the benefits provided herein

available, every sheriff, under-sheriff or regular deputy sheriff

entering or re-entering service as such and within one year from the

date of entry or re-entry may elect to contribute to the retirement

system pursuant to this section. One year or more after the filing

thereof, a member may withdraw any such election by written notice duly

acknowledged and filed with the comptroller.

(c) Elections shall be in writing and shall be duly executed and filed

with the comptroller.

(d) A sheriff shall certify to the comptroller, periodically and at

such intervals of time as may be required of him and in such fashion as

may be prescribed, the identity of the regular deputy sheriffs in his

employ who are engaged directly in criminal law enforcement activities,

and shall likewise so certify to the chief executive officer of his

county and to the chairman of the board or body of his county which

appropriates the funds to pay for the plan's benefits.

(e) A member who elects or is required to contribute in accordance

with subdivision (a) of this section shall contribute, in lieu of the

proportion of compensation as provided in section twenty-one of this

article, a proportion of his compensation similarly determined. Such

latter proportion shall be computed to provide, at the time when he

shall first become eligible for retirement under this section, an

annuity equal to one-eightieth of his final average salary for each year

of creditable service and as a member rendered after the county wherein

he is engaged elected the provisions of this section and prior to the

attainment of the age when he shall first become eligible for

retirement. Such member's rate of contribution pursuant to this section

shall be appropriately reduced pursuant to section seventy-a of this

article for such period of time as the county wherein he is engaged

contributes pursuant to such section towards

pensions-providing-for-increased-take-home-pay. Such member's

contribution, reduced as aforesaid, shall also be appropriately further

reduced by any multiple of twenty-five percentum of such contribution,

reduced as aforesaid, which the county wherein he is engaged has elected

to contribute on his behalf in lieu of such member's contributions

pursuant to this subdivision. No such member shall be required to make

contributions after completing twenty years of such service, except as

is provided in such subdivision (m) of this section.

(f) (1) A member then covered by the provisions of this section shall

be entitled to retire after the completion of twenty years of total

creditable service and, except a sheriff, shall retire upon attainment

of age sixty by filing an application therefor with the comptroller.

(2) Upon completion of twenty years of such service and upon

retirement, each such member shall receive a pension which, together

with an annuity which is the actuarial equivalent of his accumulated

contributions, if any, at the time of his retirement, and an additional

pension which is the actuarial equivalent of the

reserve-for-increased-take-home-pay to which he may then be entitled, if

any, shall be sufficient to provide him with a retirement allowance

equal to one-half of his final average salary.

(3) Upon attainment of the mandatory retirement age of sixty years,

or, in the case of a sheriff, upon attainment of the age of sixty years,

and upon retirement without completion of twenty years of such service,

each such member shall receive a pension which together with an annuity

which is the actuarial equivalent of his accumulated contributions at

the time of his retirement and an additional pension which is the

actuarial equivalent of the reserve-for-increased-take-home-pay to which

he may then be entitled, shall be sufficient to provide him with a

retirement allowance equal to one-fortieth of his final average salary

for each year of creditable service in a sheriff's department. Every

such member shall also be entitled to an additional pension for other

service as provided under paragraphs three and four of subdivision a of

section seventy-five of this article. This latter pension shall not

increase the total allowance to more than one-half of his final average

salary.

(4) For the purpose only of determining the amount of the pension

provided in subdivisions (f) and (m), the annuity shall be computed as

it would be if it were not reduced by the actuarial equivalent of any

outstanding loan, and if it were not increased by the actuarial

equivalent of any additional contributions, and if it were not reduced

by reason of the member's election to decrease his annuity contributions

to the retirement system in order to apply the amount of such reduction

in payment of his contributions for old-age and survivors insurance

coverage.

(g) The entire additional cost for the increased pensions to members,

as provided by this section, shall be paid from additional contributions

made by the participating employer on account of such members. The

actuary of the retirement system shall compute the additional

contribution required for each member who elects to receive the special

benefits provided under this section. Such additional contributions

shall be computed on the basis of contributions during the prospective

service of such member which will cover the liability of the retirement

system for such extra pensions. Upon approval of the comptroller, such

additional contributions shall be certified by him to the fiscal officer

of the participating employer. The amount thereof shall be included in

the annual appropriation of the participating employer for its sheriff's

department. Such amount shall be paid to the pension accumulation fund

of the retirement system.

(h) As used in this section "creditable service" shall include (1) in

the case of a sheriff or under-sheriff, any and all services performed

as a sheriff and/or under-sheriff of a county and all criminal law

enforcement services performed as a regular deputy sheriff of a county,

provided, however, that criminal law enforcement service shall only be

creditable when it aggregates fifty percentum or more of his service as

a regular deputy sheriff and (2) in the case of a regular deputy

sheriff, all criminal law enforcement services performed as a regular

deputy sheriff of a county, provided, however, that criminal law

enforcement service shall only be creditable when it aggregates fifty

percentum or more of such service and any and all services performed as

a sheriff and/or under-sheriff of a county.

(i) Credit for service as a member or officer of the state police, or

as a paid firefighter, police officer or officer of any organized fire

department or police force or department of any county, city, village,

town, fire district or police district or as a criminal investigator in

the office of a district attorney, provided that service as such

investigator shall have been rendered prior to January first, nineteen

hundred sixty and that credit therefor shall not exceed five years,

shall also be deemed to be creditable service and shall be included in

computing years of total service for retirement pursuant to this

section, provided such service was performed by the member while

contributing to the retirement system pursuant to this article or

article eight of this chapter.

(j) The county wherein the member is engaged may, in its initial

action taken under this section or subsequent thereto, elect to assume

and pay all or part of the additional cost on account of service

rendered to the county prior to the effective date of such election and,

in addition, may in its initial action taken under this section or

subsequent thereto, elect to assume and pay all or any multiple of

twenty-five per centum of the additional cost on account of service

rendered on and after the effective date of such election. The county

shall pay the additional cost so assumed by any such election by means

of annual contributions which shall be determined by the actuary.

(k) A member, excepting a sheriff, contributing on the basis of this

section at the time of retirement, shall be retired on December

thirty-first of the year in which he attains sixty years of age.

Application therefor may be filed in a manner similar to that provided

in section seventy of this article.

(l) The benefits of this section shall be available only to those

members whose employer elects to provide such benefits by adopting a

resolution to such effect and filing a certified copy thereof with the

comptroller.

(m) Upon completion of twenty years of total creditable service and

upon retirement, each member covered by the plan provided by this

section shall receive, for each year of creditable service in excess of

twenty, but not more than ten such years, an additional retirement

allowance equal to one-sixtieth of his final average salary for each

such year of such service; provided, however, that this benefit shall be

available only after the county employing such member elects

specifically to provide this benefit. Member contributions, if any,

shall be computed in a manner consistent with subdivision (e) of this

section so as to provide an annuity of one hundred and twentieth of

final average salary for each such year of service and employers shall

have the further option to reduce contributions in a manner similar to

that provided in said subdivision (e).

(n) That portion of the pension reserve required pursuant to this

section which is in excess of the pension reserve that would have been

required pursuant to section eighty-nine-a of this article, had the

number been covered thereunder, shall not be included in computing any

benefit payable pursuant to the provisions of section sixty of this

article.

(o) The provisions of this section shall, subject to the provisions of

section seventy-six of this article, apply to members who, on and after

June first, nineteen hundred seventy and prior to June first, nineteen

hundred seventy-four retire or separate in vested status from service

with a participating employer who has elected to provide the benefits

hereunder.