NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A8610A
SPONSOR: Wieder TITLE OF BILL:
An act in relation to authorizing the county of Rockland to offer an
optional twenty year retirement plan to Matthew Donovan, a deputy sher-
iff employed by such county
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL::
This bill would allow the county of Rockland to offer an optional twen-
ty-year retirement plan to Matthew Donovan.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS::
Section one authorizes the county of Rockland to offer an optional twen-
ty-year retirement plan, under article 14-B of the retirement and social
security law, to Matthew Donovan, a deputy sheriff employed by such
county with a start date of August 1, 2020, who was not enrolled in the
plan due to no fault of his own. The county may opt in by filing a
resolution and certification with the state comptroller.
Section two specifies that all costs associated with this provision
shall be borne by the county of Rockland and may be amortized over a
five-year period.
Section three is the effective date.
JUSTIFICATION::
In August 2020, Matthew Donovan began employment as a deputy sheriff for
the Rockland County Sheriff's Office. Although eligible for the 553B
twenty-year retirement plan under article 14-B of the retirement and
social security law, he was not enrolled due to an administrative over-
sight. This bill allows the county of Rockland to retroactively correct
this error and provide Mr. Donovan with the retirement plan he was
eligible for at the time of hire.
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY::
New Bill
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS::
See fiscal note.
EFFECTIVE DATE::
This act shall take effect immediately.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
8610--A
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
May 22, 2025
___________
Introduced by M. of A. WIEDER -- read once and referred to the Committee
on Governmental Employees -- committee discharged, bill amended,
ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee
AN ACT in relation to authorizing the county of Rockland to offer an
optional twenty year retirement plan to Matthew Donovan, a deputy
sheriff employed by such county
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary,
2 the county of Rockland, a participating employer in the New York state
3 employees' retirement system, which has elected to offer the optional
4 twenty year retirement plan, established pursuant to article 14-B of the
5 retirement and social security law, to deputy sheriffs employed by such
6 county, is hereby authorized to make participation in such plan avail-
7 able to Matthew Donovan, a deputy sheriff employed by the county of
8 Rockland with a start date of August 1, 2020, who, through no fault of
9 his own, was not enrolled to participate in such optional twenty year
10 plan contained in article 14-B of the retirement and social security
11 law. The county of Rockland may so elect by filing with the state comp-
12 troller, on or before 180 days after this act shall have become a law, a
13 resolution of its governing body together with certification that such
14 deputy sheriff did not bar themself from participation in the retirement
15 plan as a result of their own negligence. Thereafter, such deputy sher-
16 iff may individually elect to be covered by the provisions of sections
17 552 and 553 of the retirement and social security law, and the retire-
18 ment system shall credit service from August 1, 2020 to present under
19 sections 552 and 553 of the retirement and social security law. Such
20 member may effectuate by filing an election with the retirement system
21 within one year of the effective date of this act.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD11974-06-5
A. 8610--A 2
1 § 2. All employer past service costs associated with implementing the
2 provisions of this act shall be borne by the county of Rockland and may
3 be amortized over a five-year period.
4 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
FISCAL NOTE.--Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50:
This bill would allow Matthew Donovan, a current member of the New
York State and Local Employees' Retirement System employed as a deputy
sheriff by Rockland County and covered under the 25-year retirement plan
of Section 89-p of the Retirement and Social Security Law (RSSL), to
elect to be covered under the 20-year plan of Section 552 and Section
553 of the RSSL.
If this bill is enacted during the 2025 Legislative Session, we antic-
ipate that there will be an increase of approximately $14,000 in the
annual contributions of Rockland County for the fiscal year ending March
31, 2026. In future years this cost will vary as the billing rates and
salary of Matthew Donovan change.
In addition to the annual contributions discussed above, there will be
an immediate past service cost of approximately $174,000 which will be
borne by Rockland County as a one-time payment. This estimate assumes
that payment will be made on February 1, 2026. If Rockland County elects
to amortize this cost over a 5-year period, the cost for each year
including interest would be $38,800.
Summary of relevant resources:
Membership data as of March 31, 2024 was used in measuring the impact
of the proposed change, the same data used in the April 1, 2024 actuari-
al valuation. Distributions and other statistics can be found in the
2024 Report of the Actuary and the 2024 Annual Comprehensive Financial
Report. The actuarial assumptions and methods used are described in the
2024 Annual Report to the Comptroller on Actuarial Assumptions, and the
Codes, Rules and Regulations of the State of New York: Audit and
Control. The Market Assets and GASB Disclosures are found in the March
31, 2024 New York State and Local Retirement System Financial Statements
and Supplementary Information.
This fiscal note does not constitute a legal opinion on the viability
of the proposed change nor is it intended to serve as a substitute for
the professional judgment of an attorney.
This estimate, dated May 19, 2025, and intended for use only during
the 2025 Legislative Session, is Fiscal Note No. 2025-177. As Chief
Actuary of the New York State and Local Retirement System, I, Aaron
Schottin Young, hereby certify that this analysis complies with applica-
ble Actuarial Standards of Practice as well as the Code of Professional
Conduct and Qualification Standards for Actuaries Issuing Statements of
Actuarial Opinion of the American Academy of Actuaries, of which I am a
member.
