2023 New York Laws › GMU - General Municipal › Article 11-AA - Defined Contribution Service Award Programs for Volunteer Ambulance Workers › 219-D - Authorization to Adopt Service Award Programs.

§  219-d.  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.  A  service  award 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.
4. 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 entitlement age under the program;
(c) the number of years of ambulance  service  required  to  obtain  a
nonforfeitable right to a service award;
(d)  the activities for which points shall be granted toward a year of
ambulance service;
(e) the amount of the contribution to the program to be  made  by  the
sponsor  on behalf of each participant credited with a year of ambulance
service;
(f) the extent to which the program  provides  for  contributions  for
ambulance  service  rendered  by a participant during one or more of the
five calendar years immediately preceding the adoption of the program;
(g) in the  case  of  a  service  award  program  which  provides  for
contributions for ambulance service rendered by a participant during one
or more of the five calendar years immediately preceding the adoption of
the program, the timing and method of financing such contributions;
(h) the date as of which the program shall take effect;
(i)  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
(j) the date on which the proposition authorizing the adoption of  the
program shall be submitted to referendum.
5.  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.
6. 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)  in the case of a proposition to be voted on at a referendum  held
on  or  after January first, nineteen hundred ninety-five, the estimated
annual administration fee;
(e)  the  extent  to  which the program provides for contributions for
ambulance service rendered by a participant during one or  more  of  the
five  calendar  years  immediately preceding the adoption of the program
and the estimated cost thereof; 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.
7.  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.
8.  (a)  Once  a service award program has been adopted, participation
therein by the sponsor may be terminated, or the amount of the sponsor's
contribution to the program may  be  changed,  or  the  program  may  be
amended to provide for contributions for ambulance service rendered by a
participant  during  one  or more of 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  entitlement  age,  the  number of years of ambulance service
required to obtain a nonforfeitable right to a service  award,  and  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-e 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.