N.Y. Retirement & Social Security Law § 89-p: Optional twenty-five year retirement plan for certain sheriffs, undersheriffs, deputy sheriffs and correction officers whose employer ele...

§ 89-p. Optional twenty-five year retirement plan for certain

sheriffs, undersheriffs, deputy sheriffs and correction officers whose

employer elects to provide same. a. A member employed by a county shall

be eligible to retire pursuant to the provisions of this section if the

county elects to make the benefits provided herein available as provided

in subdivision j of this section and if he or she is (1) a sheriff or

undersheriff, or a deputy sheriff who is engaged directly in criminal

law enforcement activities; or (2) a correction officer. Such

eligibility shall be an alternative to the eligibility provisions

available under any other plan of this article to which such member is

subject. The comptroller shall have the authority to include positions

herein that comprehend the same duties and responsibilities, but are

named differently.

b. Such member shall be entitled to retire upon the completion of

twenty-five years of total creditable service by filing an application

therefor in the manner provided for in section seventy of this article.

c. Upon completion of twenty-five years of such service and upon

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

with an annuity which shall be the actuarial equivalent of his

accumulated contributions at the time of his retirement and an

additional pension which is the actuarial equivalent of the

reserved-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-half of his final average salary.

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

the case of a sheriff, undersheriff and/or correction officer, any and

all services performed as a sheriff, undersheriff and/or correction

officer of his or her employer that makes the election provided for

herein and all criminal law enforcement services performed as a deputy

sheriff of such county, provided, however, that criminal law enforcement

service shall only be creditable when it aggregates fifty per centum or

more of his service as a deputy sheriff and (2) in the case of a deputy

sheriff, all criminal law enforcement service shall only be creditable

when it aggregates fifty per centum or more of such service and any and

all services performed as a sheriff, undersheriff and/or correction

officer of such county.

e. 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 the provisions of this

article or article eight of this chapter.

f. The sheriff (or the chief executive officer where correction

officers are not employed in a sheriff's department) of a county that

makes the election provided for in subdivision j of this section 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: (1) the deputy sheriffs in the sheriff's employ who are

engaged directly in criminal law enforcement activities; and (2) the

eligible correction officers.

g. A member contributing on the basis of this section at the time of

retirement shall retire after the completion of twenty-five years of

total creditable service. Application therefor may be filed in a manner

similar to that provided in section seventy of this article. Upon

completion of twenty-five years of such service and upon retirement,

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

which shall be the actuarial equivalent of his accumulated contributions

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

actuarial equivalent of the reserved-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-half of his final average salary.

h. In computing the twenty-five years of total service of a member

pursuant to this section full credit shall be given and full allowance

shall be made for service of such member in time of war after World War

I as defined in section two of this chapter, provided such member at the

time of his entrance into the armed forces was in the service of the

county of his or her employer that makes the election provided for

herein.

i. Nothing herein shall be construed to prevent a member, who does not

retire pursuant to the provisions of this section, from utilizing

service which is creditable service pursuant to the provisions of this

section for service credit pursuant to the provisions of any other plan

of this article to which such member is subject.

j. (1) Each county that elects pursuant to the provisions of this

subdivision shall pay the cost attributable therefor.

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

members defined in subdivisions a and d of this section whose employer

elects on or before June thirtieth, nineteen hundred ninety-nine to

provide such benefits by adopting a resolution to such effect and filing

a certified copy thereof with the comptroller. Such resolution may also

contain an election that any past service cost be paid over either a

five-year or ten-year period. Such resolution shall be accompanied by

the affidavit of the chief executive officer of the county that the

county has received an estimate from the retirement system of the cost

of the benefit provided by this section.

(3) Such resolution shall apply to all members defined in subdivisions

a and d of this section, except those already subject to a retirement

plan which permits immediate retirement with a benefit upon a specified

period of service of twenty-five years or less without regard to age.

k. The provisions of this section shall be controlling notwithstanding

any other provision in this article to the contrary.