N.Y. Retirement & Social Security Law § 89-ss: Retirement of members employed as an emergency medical technician, critical care technician, advanced emergency medical technician, param...

§ 89-ss. Retirement of members employed as an emergency medical

technician, critical care technician, advanced emergency medical

technician, paramedic or supervisor of such titles in a participating

Suffolk county fire district. a. Any member employed on or after

December eighth, two thousand twenty-three as an emergency medical

technician, critical care technician, advanced emergency medical

technician, paramedic or supervisor of such titles upon an election by a

participating Suffolk county fire district shall be eligible to retire

pursuant to the provisions of this section. Such eligibility shall be an

alternative to the eligibility provisions available under any other plan

of this article to which such member is subject.

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 or her

accumulated contributions at the time of his or her retirement and an

additional pension which is the actuarial equivalent of the

reserved-for-increased-take-home-pay to which he or she may then be

entitled shall be sufficient to provide him or her with a retirement

allowance equal to one-half of his or her final average salary.

d. As used in this section "creditable service" shall include any and

all services performed as an emergency medical technician, critical care

technician, advanced emergency medical technician, paramedic or

supervisor of such titles employed by a participating Suffolk county

fire district.

e. Credit for service as a paid firefighter or officer of any

organized fire department shall also be deemed to be creditable service

and shall be included in computing years of total service for retirement

pursuant to this section.

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

retirement, may 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 or her accumulated

contributions at the time of his or her retirement and an additional

pension which is the actuarial equivalent of the

reserved-for-increased-take-home-pay to which he or she may then be

entitled shall be sufficient to provide him or her with a retirement

allowance equal to one-half of his or her final average salary; for

service beyond twenty-five years the benefit is increased by

one-sixtieth of final average salary for each year of additional service

credit provided, however, that the total allowance payable pursuant to

this section shall not exceed three-fourths of such member's final

average salary.

g. 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 or her entrance into the armed forces was employed by a

participating Suffolk county fire district.

h. Nothing in this section 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.

i. The provisions of this section shall be controlling notwithstanding

any other provision of this article to the contrary.

j. (1) Each Suffolk county fire district 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 to provide such benefits by adopting a resolution to such effect

and filing a certified copy thereof with the comptroller. Such

resolution shall be accompanied by the affidavit of the chief executive

officer of the fire district that the fire district 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.