Establishes a twenty-two year retirement program for deputy sheriff members who are employed by the city of New York as a deputy city sheriff level one, deputy city sheriff level two, supervising deputy sheriff or administrative sheriff.
This bill establishes a new optional “twenty-two year retirement program” for New York City deputy sheriff members in the New York City Employees’ Retirement System (NYCERS). It defines eligible deputy sheriff titles, allows current and future deputy sheriffs to elect into the plan within a 180-day window, and makes that election irrevocable. Participants who remain in the plan and meet service requirements may retire after 20 or more years of credited service under the bill’s special benefit formula, with deferred vested benefits available for those who leave service before retirement but meet vesting conditions.
The bill also sets out the contribution structure for the new plan. Participants must pay basic member contributions of 3 percent of annual wages for up to 25 years, plus additional member contributions of 6.75 percent of compensation for covered service, with the City of New York required to “pick up” those additional contributions for tax and payroll purposes under the bill’s terms. The bill includes rules for contribution deficiencies, refunds, reemployment, vesting, benefit reductions for unpaid amounts, and administrative authority for retirement-system rulemaking. It also directs NYCERS to post the election form online and makes the act effective immediately.
The bill amends multiple sections of the Retirement and Social Security Law to add New York City deputy sheriff revised plan members to the list of special NYC retirement categories and to create a new Section 504-e specifically governing their 22-year retirement program. It also updates related provisions on early retirement age, normal retirement age, service retirement benefits, accidental disability retirement, death benefits, final average salary, deferred vested benefits, borrowing restrictions, and other retirement-system rules so they apply to the new deputy sheriff plan where appropriate. In practical terms, it changes the pension rights and contribution obligations of NYC deputy sheriffs who elect the plan, and shifts the employer cost burden to New York City, as reflected in the fiscal note.
The bill appears generally favorable toward deputy sheriffs and their retirement benefits, with the stated purpose of creating a more favorable retirement pathway and disability protection for a specific NYC workforce. The fiscal note frames the proposal as an elective benefit enhancement for a relatively small group of members, suggesting the measure is designed to align deputy sheriff benefits more closely with other uniformed or special-plan employees. No committee transcript or vote record is provided, so there is no recorded opposition or support beyond the bill text and fiscal analysis.
The main policy tension is fiscal: the bill increases employer pension costs for New York City, with the fiscal note projecting added annual contributions and a long-term increase in normal cost for impacted new entrants. Another point of complexity is the plan’s structure, which requires deputy sheriffs to accept higher employee contributions in exchange for enhanced retirement and disability benefits, and imposes strict election deadlines and irrevocability. Because the bill is narrowly targeted to NYC deputy sheriffs, any contention would likely center on cost, pension parity with other employee groups, and whether the enhanced benefits are justified for this specific title.