2023 New York Laws › GMU - General Municipal › Article 11-AAA - Defined Benefit Service Award Program for Volunteer Ambulance Workers › 219-L - Authorization to Adopt Service Award Programs.

§  219-l.  Authorization  to  adopt  service  award  programs.  1.  No
political subdivision  shall  be  required  to  adopt  a  service  award
program.    Any  service  award program adopted pursuant to this section
shall be governed by the provisions of this article.
2. A political subdivision may adopt a service award program  for  the
volunteer ambulance workers of ambulance companies which are either:
(a)  a municipal ambulance service of the political subdivision; or
(b)  a  voluntary  ambulance  service  which  provides  service to the
political subdivision under contract with the  governing  board  thereof
and has its principal headquarters in the political subdivision.
3.  The  governing  board  of a political subdivision which intends to
adopt a service award program shall engage the services of  the  program
actuary designated by the comptroller for the purpose of determining the
estimated  annual  cost  of  the  program.  The  program  actuary  shall
determine estimated annual cost of  the  program  on  the  basis  of  an
interest  rate,  mortality  tables and other appropriate assumptions and
methods selected by the actuary. The cost  of  obtaining  such  estimate
shall  be  a charge against the political subdivision, provided, that if
the political subdivision is an ambulance district or a fire  protection
district,  the  town  in  which  the district is located may temporarily
advance moneys from its general fund to pay  for  the  services  of  the
actuary  and  the  district  shall reimburse the town with interest from
moneys raised for that purpose in the district's next succeeding  fiscal
year.
4.  Following  such  determination  of  the estimated annual cost of a
service award program, the program may be adopted only by resolution  of
the governing board of a political subdivision receiving the affirmative
vote  of  at least sixty percent of the governing board and the approval
of a proposition authorizing the adoption of the program at a referendum
of the electors of the political subdivision.
5. The resolution authorizing adoption  of  a  service  award  program
shall state:
(a)  the  name  of  each  volunteer ambulance company having volunteer
ambulance workers who are potential participants in the program;
(b) the activities for which points shall be granted toward a year  of
ambulance service;
(c) the amount of the benefit provided under the program;
(d) whether the program provides credit for years of ambulance service
rendered  by  a  participant  during the five calendar years immediately
preceding the adoption of the program;
(e) in the case of a service award program which provides  credit  for
years  of  ambulance  service  rendered by a participant during the five
calendar years immediately preceding the adoption of  the  program,  the
timing and method of financing the cost of providing such credit;
(f) the date as of which the program shall take effect;
(g)  in  the  case  of a service award program to take effect on a day
other than the first day of January, whether points  toward  a  year  of
ambulance service shall be granted for activities performed prior to the
effective  date of the program and on or after the immediately preceding
first day of January; and
(h) the date on which the proposition authorizing the adoption of  the
program shall be submitted to referendum; and
(i) entitlement age- the age at which volunteers are eligible to begin
receiving service awards.
6.  The  proposition authorizing adoption of the service award program
shall be submitted to referendum not less than thirty days and not  more
than  ninety  days  after  the  governing  board  votes to authorize the
adoption of the program.  Notice of the referendum shall be published at

least once, not less than  fourteen  days  prior  to  the  date  of  the
referendum,  in  the official newspaper of the political subdivision or,
if the political subdivision does not have an official newspaper, in one
or   more   newspapers  having  general  circulation  in  the  political
subdivision.  The referendum shall be conducted  and  the  cost  thereof
charged  in  the  same  manner  as other referenda held by the political
subdivision.
7. The proposition shall state:
(a) the estimated annual cost of the service award program;
(b) the portion of the estimated annual cost of the program,  if  any,
to be paid by one or more other political subdivisions;
(c) the estimated annual cost per participant;
(d) the estimated annual administration fee;
(e) whether the program provides credit for years of ambulance service
rendered  by  a  participant  during the five calendar years immediately
preceding the  adoption  of  the  program  and  the  estimated  cost  of
providing such credit; and
(f)    in  the case of a service award program to take effect on a day
other than the first day of January, whether points  toward  a  year  of
ambulance service shall be granted for activities performed prior to the
effective  date of the program and on or after the immediately preceding
first day of January.
8. Upon approval of the proposition, the service award  program  shall
be  deemed  adopted  by the political subdivision in accordance with the
terms of the resolution adopted by the governing board.
9. (a) Once a service award program has  been  adopted,  participation
therein  by  the  sponsor  may  be terminated, or the benefits under the
program may be changed, or the program may be amended to provide  credit
for years of ambulance service rendered by a participant during the five
calendar  years  immediately  preceding  the adoption of the program, by
resolution  of  the  governing  board  of  the  sponsor  receiving   the
affirmative  vote  of  at least sixty percent of the governing board and
the approval of a proposition at a referendum of  the  electors  of  the
sponsor.
(b)  The activities for which points shall be granted toward a year of
ambulance  service  may  be  changed  by  resolution  adopted   by   the
affirmative vote of at least sixty percent of the governing board of the
sponsor   without   referendum;  provided,  that,  consistent  with  the
provisions of subdivision three of section  two  hundred  nineteen-m  of
this  article,  if the effect of the amendment is to increase the number
of points granted for the performance  of  the  activity,  decrease  the
amount  of  an  activity  required  to  earn  the points granted for the
performance of the activity, or both, such amendment shall be subject to
a mandatory referendum. Any amendment to a service award  program  shall
only  take  effect as of the first of January next succeeding completion
of the proceedings required for adoption of the amendment and shall only
apply prospectively.
(c) The sponsor's participation in a service award program adopted for
the volunteer ambulance workers  of  one  or  more  ambulance  companies
described  in  paragraph (b) of subdivision two of this section shall be
suspended to the extent that service credit shall  not  be  granted  for
activities  performed  by  the  volunteer  ambulance workers of any such
ambulance company during any period  in  which  the  company  ceases  to
provide  service  to the sponsor under contract with the governing board
thereof.