2023 New York Laws › RSS - Retirement and Social Security › Article 2 - New York State Employees' Retirement System › Title 9 - Special Retirement Plans Applicable to Specified Classes of Members › 89-P - Optional Twenty-Five Year Retirement Plan for Certain Sheriffs, Undersheriffs, Deputy Sheriffs and Correction Officers Whose Employer Elects to Provid

§   89-p.  Optional  twenty-five  year  retirement  plan  for  certain
sheriffs, undersheriffs, deputy sheriffs and correction  officers  whose
employer  elects to provide same. a. A member employed by a county shall
be eligible to retire pursuant to the provisions of this section if  the
county elects to make the benefits provided herein available as provided
in  subdivision  j  of this section and if he or she is (1) a sheriff or
undersheriff, or a deputy sheriff who is engaged  directly  in  criminal
law   enforcement   activities;   or  (2)  a  correction  officer.  Such
eligibility shall  be  an  alternative  to  the  eligibility  provisions
available  under  any other plan of this article to which such member is
subject. The comptroller shall have the authority to  include  positions
herein  that  comprehend  the  same duties and responsibilities, but are
named differently.
b. Such member shall be entitled to  retire  upon  the  completion  of
twenty-five  years  of total creditable service by filing an application
therefor in the manner provided for in section seventy of this article.
c. Upon completion of twenty-five  years  of  such  service  and  upon
retirement,  each  such  member  shall receive a pension which, together
with  an  annuity  which  shall  be  the  actuarial  equivalent  of  his
accumulated   contributions  at  the  time  of  his  retirement  and  an
additional  pension  which  is   the   actuarial   equivalent   of   the
reserved-for-increased-take-home-pay  to  which  he may then be entitled
shall be sufficient to provide him with a retirement allowance equal  to
one-half of his final average salary.
d.  As  used in this section "creditable service" shall include (1) in
the case of a sheriff, undersheriff and/or correction officer,  any  and
all  services  performed  as  a  sheriff, undersheriff and/or correction
officer of his or her employer that  makes  the  election  provided  for
herein  and  all criminal law enforcement services performed as a deputy
sheriff of such county, provided, however, that criminal law enforcement
service shall only be creditable when it aggregates fifty per centum  or
more  of his service as a deputy sheriff and (2) in the case of a deputy
sheriff, all criminal law enforcement service shall only  be  creditable
when  it aggregates fifty per centum or more of such service and any and
all services performed as  a  sheriff,  undersheriff  and/or  correction
officer of such county.
e. Credit for service as a member or officer of the state police or as
a  paid  firefighter,  police  officer  or officer of any organized fire
department or police force or department of any county,  city,  village,
town, fire district or police district, or as a criminal investigator in
the  office  of  a  district  attorney,  provided  that  service as such
investigator shall have been rendered prior to January  first,  nineteen
hundred  sixty  and  that  credit  therefor shall not exceed five years,
shall also be deemed to be creditable service and shall be  included  in
computing  years  of  total  service  for  retirement  pursuant  to this
section, provided  such  service  was  performed  by  the  member  while
contributing to the retirement system pursuant to the provisions of this
article or article eight of this chapter.
f.  The  sheriff  (or  the  chief  executive  officer where correction
officers are not employed in a sheriff's department) of  a  county  that
makes  the  election provided for in subdivision j of this section shall
certify to the comptroller, periodically and at such intervals  of  time
as  may be required of him and in such fashion as may be prescribed, the
identity of: (1) the deputy sheriffs in the  sheriff's  employ  who  are
engaged  directly  in  criminal  law enforcement activities; and (2) the
eligible correction officers.
g. A member contributing on the basis of this section at the  time  of
retirement  shall  retire  after  the completion of twenty-five years of

total creditable service. Application therefor may be filed in a  manner
similar  to  that  provided  in  section  seventy  of this article. Upon
completion of twenty-five years of such  service  and  upon  retirement,
each such member shall receive a pension which, together with an annuity
which shall be the actuarial equivalent of his accumulated contributions
at  the  time  of  his retirement and an additional pension which is the
actuarial  equivalent  of  the  reserved-for-increased-take-home-pay  to
which he may then be entitled, shall be sufficient to provide him with a
retirement allowance equal to one-half of his final average salary.
h.  In  computing  the  twenty-five years of total service of a member
pursuant to this section full credit shall be given and  full  allowance
shall  be made for service of such member in time of war after World War
I as defined in section two of this chapter, provided such member at the
time of his entrance into the armed forces was in  the  service  of  the
county  of  his  or  her  employer  that makes the election provided for
herein.
i. Nothing herein shall be construed to prevent a member, who does not
retire pursuant to  the  provisions  of  this  section,  from  utilizing
service  which  is creditable service pursuant to the provisions of this
section for service credit pursuant to the provisions of any other  plan
of this article to which such member is subject.
j.  (1)  Each  county  that  elects pursuant to the provisions of this
subdivision shall pay the cost attributable therefor.
(2) The benefits of this section shall  be  available  only  to  those
members  defined  in subdivisions a and d of this section whose employer
elects on or before June  thirtieth,  nineteen  hundred  ninety-nine  to
provide such benefits by adopting a resolution to such effect and filing
a  certified copy thereof with the comptroller. Such resolution may also
contain an election that any past service cost be  paid  over  either  a
five-year  or  ten-year  period. Such resolution shall be accompanied by
the affidavit of the chief executive officer  of  the  county  that  the
county  has  received an estimate from the retirement system of the cost
of the benefit provided by this section.
(3) Such resolution shall apply to all members defined in subdivisions
a and d of this section, except those already subject  to  a  retirement
plan  which permits immediate retirement with a benefit upon a specified
period of service of twenty-five years or less without regard to age.
k. The provisions of this section shall be controlling notwithstanding
any other provision in this article to the contrary.