NY Ret & SS L § 445-D-2 (2021)
2021 New York Laws RSS - Retirement and Social Security Article 11 - Limitations Applicable to New Entrants 445-D*2 - Optional Twenty-Year/age Fifty Improved Benefit Retirement Program for Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Members.

* §  445-d. Optional twenty-year/age fifty improved benefit retirement program for Triborough bridge and tunnel members.  a.  Definitions.  The following  words  and  phrases  as  used  in this section shall have the following meanings unless a different meaning is plainly required by the context.   1. "Retirement  system"  shall  mean  the  New  York  city  employees' retirement system.   2.  "Triborough  bridge  and tunnel member" shall mean a member of the retirement system who is subject to the provisions of this article,  who is  employed  by  the Triborough bridge and tunnel authority as a bridge and tunnel officer, sergeant, or lieutenant in a non-managerial position and who has elected to contribute to the retirement system on the  basis of  a  minimum  retirement  period of twenty-year/age fifty of allowable service rendered pursuant to the optional retirement provisions  as  set forth in paragraph eight of this subdivision.   3.  "Twenty-year/age  fifty improved benefit retirement program" shall mean all the terms and conditions of this section.   4. "Starting  date  of  the  twenty-year/age  fifty  improved  benefit retirement  program"  shall  mean the date of enactment of the act which added this section, as  such  date  is  certified  pursuant  to  section forty-one of the legislative law.   5.   "Participant   in  the  twenty-year/age  fifty  improved  benefit retirement program" shall mean any Triborough bridge and  tunnel  member who,  under  the applicable provisions of subdivision b of this section, is entitled to the rights, benefits and privileges and is subject to the obligations of the twenty-year/age  fifty  improved  benefit  retirement program, as applicable to him or her.   6.  "Administrative  code"  shall  mean the administrative code of the city of New York.   7. "Accumulated  deductions"  shall  mean  accumulated  deductions  as defined  in  subdivision  eleven of section 13-101 of the administrative code.   8. "Optional retirement provisions" shall mean the right to receive  a retirement  allowance  upon (a) the attainment of age fifty, and (b) the completion of twenty years of service.   b. Election  of  twenty-year/age  fifty  improved  benefit  retirement program.  1.  Subject  to  the  provisions  of  paragraph  five  of this subdivision, any person who is a Triborough bridge and tunnel member  on the   starting  date  of  the  twenty-year/age  fifty  improved  benefit retirement  program  may  elect  to  become   a   participant   in   the twenty-year/age  fifty  improved  benefit  retirement program by filing, within one hundred eighty days after such starting date, a duly executed application for such participation with the retirement system,  provided he  or  she  is  such  a  bridge  and  tunnel  member  on  the date such application is filed.   2. Subject to the provisions of paragraph five  of  this  subdivision, any  person  who becomes a Triborough bridge and tunnel member after the starting date of the twenty-year/age fifty improved  benefit  retirement program  may  elect to become a participant in the twenty-year/age fifty improved benefit retirement program by filing, within one hundred eighty days after becoming such a bridge and tunnel  member,  a  duly  executed application  for such participation with the retirement system, provided he or she  is  such  a  bridge  and  tunnel  member  on  the  date  such application is filed.   3.  Any  election  to  be  a  participant in the twenty-year/age fifty improved benefit retirement program shall be irrevocable.   4. Where any participant in the twenty-year/age fifty improved benefit retirement program shall cease to hold  a  position  in  the  Triborough  bridge  and  tunnel  service,  he  or  she  shall  cease  to  be  such a participant and, during any period in which such a person does not  hold such  a bridge and tunnel position, he or she shall not be a participant in  the  twenty-year/age  fifty  improved benefit retirement program and shall not be eligible for the benefits of subdivision c of this section.   5. Where any participant in the twenty-year/age fifty improved benefit retirement program terminates  service  in  the  Triborough  bridge  and tunnel service and returns to such service as a bridge and tunnel member at a later date, he or she shall again become such a participant on that date.   c. Service retirement benefits. Notwithstanding any other provision of law  to  the  contrary, where a participant in the twenty-year/age fifty improvement benefit retirement program, who is otherwise qualified for a retirement allowance pursuant to the optional retirement provisions  set forth  in  subdivision a of this section, has made and/or paid, while he or she is a Triborough bridge and tunnel member, all  additional  member contributions  and  interest  (if any) required by subdivision d of this section, then:   1. that participant, while he or she remains a participant, shall  not be  subject  to  the provisions of subdivision a of section four hundred forty-five of this chapter; and   2. if  that  participant,  while  such  a  participant,  retires  from service,  he  or  she  shall not be subject to the provisions of section four hundred forty-four of this chapter; and   3. his or her retirement allowance shall be an amount, on  account  of the  required minimum period of service, equal to one-half of his or her final average salary,  plus  an  amount  for  each  additional  year  of allowable  service,  or  fraction  thereof, beyond such required minimum period of service equal to one and one-half percent of his or her  final average salary; and   4.   the   maximum   retirement   benefit  computed  without  optional modification payable to that participant upon his or her retirement  for service  as  such a participant shall equal that payable upon completion of thirty years of service.   d. Additional member contributions.  1.  In  addition  to  the  member contributions  required pursuant to section 13-162 of the administrative code, each participant in the  twenty-year/age  fifty  improved  benefit retirement  program  in  the  rank  of  bridge  and tunnel officer shall contribute an additional five and fifty one-hundredths percent of his or her compensation and  each  participant  in  the  twenty-year/age  fifty retirement   program  in  the  rank  of  sergeant  or  lieutenant  shall contribute to the retirement system an additional six percent of his  or her  compensation  earned  from  all  allowable  service as a Triborough bridge and tunnel member rendered on and after the  date  which  is  one hundred  eighty  days  prior to the starting date of the twenty-year/age fifty  improved  benefit  retirement  program.  A  participant  in   the twenty-year/age   fifty   improved   benefit  retirement  program  shall contribute additional member contributions until the latest of  (i)  the date  as  of  which he or she is eligible to retire with twenty years of creditable service in the Triborough bridge and tunnel  authority  under such retirement program, (ii) the third anniversary of the starting date of  the  twenty-year/age  fifty  improved benefit retirement program, or (iii) the third anniversary  of  the  date  that  he  or  she  became  a participant  in  the  twenty-year/age  fifty improved benefit retirement program.   2. Commencing with the first full payroll  period  after  each  person becomes  a  participant  in  the  twenty-year/age fifty improved benefit retirement  program,  additional  member  contributions  at   the   rate  specified  in  paragraph  one  of  this  subdivision  shall  be deducted (subject to  the  applicable  provisions  of  section  13-125.2  of  the administrative  code  of  the city of New York) from the compensation of such  participant on each and every payroll of such participant for each and every payroll period.   3. (i)  Subject  to  the  provisions  of  subparagraph  (ii)  of  this paragraph,   where  any  additional  member  contributions  required  by paragraph one of this subdivision are not  paid  by  deductions  from  a participant's   compensation   pursuant   to   paragraph   two  of  this subdivision:  (A) that participant shall be charged with a  contribution  deficiency consisting  of  such  unpaid  amounts,  together  with interest thereon, compounded annually; and  (B) such interest on each amount  of  undeducted  contributions  shall accrue  from  the  end of the payroll period for which such amount would have been deducted from compensation if he or she had been a participant at the beginning of that payroll period, until such amount  is  paid  to the retirement system; and  (C)  the rate of interest to be applied to each such amount during the period for which interest accrues on that amount shall be equal  to  the rate  or  rates  of interest required by law to be used during that same period to credit interest on the accumulated  deductions  of  retirement system members.  (ii)  Except  as  provided in subparagraph (iii) of this paragraph, no interest shall be due on any unpaid additional contributions  which  are not  attributable  to  the period prior to the first full payroll period referred to in paragraph two of this subdivision.  (iii) Should any person who,  pursuant  to  paragraph  seven  of  this subdivision,  has withdrawn any additional member contributions (and any interest paid thereon) again become a participant in the twenty-year/age fifty improved benefit retirement program pursuant to paragraph five  of subdivision  b  of this section, an appropriate amount shall be included in  such  participant's  contribution  deficiency  (including   interest thereon as calculated pursuant to subparagraph (i) of this paragraph) as if such additional contributions had never been made.  (iv)  Notwithstanding  any  other  provisions  of  this  paragraph, no participant shall be charged interest for  any  period  prior  to  March twenty-fifth,   nineteen   hundred  ninety-eight  with  respect  to  any contributions owed with respect to any payroll period beginning prior to such date.   4. The board of trustees of the retirement system may, consistent with the provisions of  this  subdivision,  promulgate  regulations  for  the payment  of  such  additional  member  contributions,  and  any interest thereon, by a participant in the twenty-year/age fifty improved  benefit retirement  program  (including the deduction of such contributions, and any interest thereon, from his or her compensation).   5.  Where  a  contribution  deficiency  chargeable  to  a  participant pursuant  to  paragraph  three  of this subdivision has not been paid in full while the participant is a Triborough  bridge  and  tunnel  member, that  participant  shall  not  be  entitled  to the benefits provided in subdivision c of this section.   6.  Where  a  participant  has  not  paid  in  full  any  contribution deficiency  chargeable to him or her pursuant to paragraph three of this subdivision,  and  a  benefit,  other  than  a  refund  of  a   member's accumulated  deductions  or  a refund of additional member contributions pursuant to paragraph seven of this subdivision, becomes payable by  the retirement  system  to  the  participant  or  to  his  or her designated  beneficiary or estate, the  actuarial  equivalent  of  any  such  unpaid amount shall be deducted from the benefit otherwise payable.   6-a.  Notwithstanding paragraph five or six of this subdivision, where a deficiency chargeable to a participant pursuant to paragraph three  of this  subdivision  has  not been paid in full while the participant is a Triborough bridge and tunnel member and such participant  retires  prior to  July  first,  two  thousand  seven, such participant may elect to be covered by this paragraph. Such participant shall  be  entitled  to  the benefits  provided  in  subdivision  c  of  this  section  provided that participant  authorizes  the  retirement  system  to  deduct  from  such benefits  an amount which will result in the deficiency, plus associated interest to date of final payment, being paid in full no later than July first, two thousand seven or such earlier  date  as  agreed  to  by  the participant.  Such  amount  will  be deducted in equal installments on a monthly basis. Nothing in this paragraph shall prevent  the  participant from  making  a  partial  payment of the amount of the deficiency at the time of retirement so as to reduce the monthly payment  nor  to  make  a lump  sum payment equal to the amount of the total unpaid balance at any time during the period of repayment.   7.  (i)  All  additional  member  contributions   required   by   this subdivision  (and  any  interest  thereon)  which  are  received  by the retirement system shall be paid into its  contingent  reserve  fund  and shall  be  the property of the retirement system. Such additional member contributions (and any interest thereon) shall not for  any  purpose  be deemed to be accumulated deductions of a member of the retirement system while  he  or she is a participant in the twenty-year/age fifty improved benefit retirement program or otherwise.  (ii) Should  a  participant  in  the  twenty-year/age  fifty  improved benefit  retirement program, who has rendered less than fifteen years of credited service cease to hold a position in such  uniformed  force  for any   reason  whatsoever,  his  or  her  accumulated  additional  member contributions made pursuant  to  this  subdivision  (together  with  any interest  thereon paid to the retirement system) may be withdrawn by him or her pursuant to procedures promulgated in regulations of the board of trustees of the retirement system, together with interest thereon  equal to eight and one-quarter percent per annum, compounded annually.  (iii)  Except  as  otherwise  provided  in  subparagraph  (ii) of this paragraph, no member of the retirement system, while  he  or  she  is  a participant  in such retirement program or otherwise, shall have a right to withdraw such additional member contributions or any interest thereon from the retirement system.   8. A member who has made the  additional  contributions  specified  by this subdivision may borrow a portion of such contributions, pursuant to the provisions of section six hundred thirteen-b of this chapter.   9.  Notwithstanding  any  other  provision of law to the contrary, the provisions of section one hundred thirty-eight-b of this  chapter  shall not  be  applicable  to  the  additional  member contributions which are required by this subdivision.   10. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to  the  contrary,  the additional  member  contributions which are required by this subdivision shall not be reduced under any program for increased-take-home-pay.   * NB There are 2 § 445-d's