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State Bill Could Have Negative Impact On City

The weight of employee salaries and benefits, coupled with stagnant tax base growth, are threatening to bury the city of Jamestown.

A bill sent last week to Gov. Andrew Cuomo certainly wouldn’t help the situation.

The state Assembly and Senate have each passed S7023 and A7490, which would amend the Retirement and Social Security Law by adding a new Article 26 to grant police officers and professional firefighters the opportunity to participate in a non-contributory 20-year retirement if their employer elects to do so. The legislation effectively reverses a decision made by the Legislature in 2009 when Tier 5 to the state pension system was established. At that time, paid police officers and firefighters hired between July 1, 2009, and the effective date of Tier 5 on Jan. 9, 2010, working under a collective bargaining agreement were given the opportunity to elect to join or remain in a non-contributory 20-year plan until the expiration of their respective contracts. The option was not extended to paid police officers and firefighters working without a collective bargaining agreement. S7023 and A7490 would provide this same option to police officers and firefighters in Tier 6, which currently requires a contribution from all employees.

For  the  fiscal  year ending March 31, 2017, the contribution increases, as a percentage of salary, will be .3 percent for Tier  3 384-d, 1 percent for Tier 3  384-e, 3.4 percent for Tier 5 384-d, 3.5 percent for Tier 5 384-e, 6.5 percent for Tier 6 384-d and 6.6 percent for Tier 6 384-e.

That’s bad news for municipalities who are either struggling to piece their 2017 budgets together or who have already finished their budgets. Gov. Andrew Cuomo vetoed a similar measure at the end of the 2015-16 legislative session. We are glad he did the same Tuesday with Senate Bill 7023.

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