Authorizes Lt. Thomas Cleere to change his service credit from the improved career retirement plan to a 20 year retirement plan.
Summary
This bill authorizes Lieutenant Thomas Cleere, a member of the New York State and Local Police and Fire Retirement System, to receive service credit under the special 20-year retirement plan in Retirement and Social Security Law section 384-d, rather than remaining in the improved career retirement plan under section 375-i. The bill applies to Cleere’s appointment as a police officer with the Seneca Falls Police Department on February 4, 2014, and provides that he may receive the enhanced retirement coverage if the Town of Seneca Falls elects to assume the additional cost and certifies that he did not exclude himself from the plan through his own negligence.
The measure is a narrowly tailored, member-specific retirement bill. It allows the town to file a resolution with the State Comptroller within 180 days of enactment, and it gives Cleere one year to elect coverage under section 384-d. The bill also requires the town to bear all past service costs associated with the change, with the option to amortize those costs over ten years. It takes effect immediately.
The bill’s impact is limited to state retirement law and the finances of the Town of Seneca Falls. It effectively reopens eligibility for a special police retirement benefit for one officer and shifts the associated actuarial and contribution costs to the local employer rather than the state retirement system generally. According to the fiscal note, the town’s annual contributions would increase by about $13,000 beginning in fiscal year 2027, and there would be an immediate past service cost of about $191,000, or approximately $24,400 per year if amortized over ten years.
The general sentiment reflected in the bill text and fiscal materials is procedural and supportive, with the measure framed as a corrective benefit adjustment for an individual officer who was enrolled in the wrong retirement plan through no fault of his own. There is no recorded committee debate or vote history in the provided materials, so no broader political opposition or support is documented here.
The main point of contention inherent in the bill is cost allocation: the enhanced retirement benefit is conditioned on the Town of Seneca Falls agreeing to pay the additional expense, including past service costs. The bill also depends on a factual certification that the officer was not responsible for the mistaken enrollment, which is a common safeguard in these kinds of retirement correction bills.
Impact
The bill amends the practical application of the Retirement and Social Security Law for one named police officer by allowing service credit under section 384-d, the special 20-year police retirement plan, instead of section 375-i, the improved career retirement plan. It does not broadly change statewide eligibility rules, but it creates a one-off exception that affects the Town of Seneca Falls’ obligations to the New York State and Local Police and Fire Retirement System. The town must assume the added actuarial cost and may amortize past service costs over ten years, increasing local pension contributions and creating a specific fiscal obligation for the municipality and the affected retirement system.
Sentiment
The available materials suggest a generally favorable and administrative tone. The bill is presented as a remedial measure to correct an enrollment issue that occurred through no fault of the officer, and the fiscal note treats it as a quantifiable local cost rather than a policy controversy. No committee transcript or vote record is provided, so there is no evidence in the supplied context of organized opposition, partisan division, or significant debate.
Contention
The primary issue is financial responsibility: the Town of Seneca Falls must choose to accept the added pension cost before the benefit change can take effect, and it must cover both future and past service costs. A secondary point is eligibility fairness, because the bill hinges on a certification that Lieutenant Cleere did not cause the mistaken enrollment through negligence. In the absence of committee discussion or votes, no other specific objections or supporters are identified in the record provided.
Authorizes Sgt. Bethany Kidd to receive certain service credit under a twenty year retirement plan for service with the Seneca Falls Police Department.
Authorizes Sgt. Bethany Kidd to receive certain service credit under a twenty year retirement plan for service with the Seneca Falls Police Department.
Authorizes Scott Pavlick to receive certain service credit under a twenty-five year retirement plan offering one-sixtieths after twenty-five years of total creditable service for service with the Binghamton Fire Department.
Authorizes David Edwards to receive certain service credit under a twenty-five year retirement plan offering one-sixtieths after twenty-five years of total creditable service for service with the Binghamton Fire Department.
Authorizes Scott Pavlick to receive certain service credit under a twenty-five year retirement plan offering one-sixtieths after twenty-five years of total creditable service for service with the Binghamton Fire Department.
Authorizes Melissa Baker to receive certain service credit under a twenty year retirement plan for service with the village of Blasdell Police Department.
Authorizes the village of Trumansburg to offer an optional twenty-year retirement plan to Daniel H. Austic under section 384-d of the retirement and social security law.
Authorizes the village of Trumansburg to offer an optional twenty-year retirement plan to Daniel H. Austic under section 384-d of the retirement and social security law.