Buyout Bill Introduced

 If you've been following the speculation here or here or here from both me and my very knowledgeable commentators, you'll know that an Early Retirement Incentive is on the horizon. I gave a brief history of ERIs here and carefully followed the terms of those past buyouts to try to gauge how this buyout would look. 

Well it's here. The Assembly version of the bill is here. And James' Eterno's piece at ICEUFT Blog is here.  James' read of the bill is:

Here are the parts of the summary Senate Bill S9041 that I think most of you would be interested in:

A member is eligible to participate in Part A of the ERI Program if he or she:

   * Is otherwise eligible for service retirement;

   * Is at least age 50 with 10 or more years of service and is not in  a plan which permits retirement at half-pay with 25 or fewer years of service without regard to age 

MPACT ON BENEFITS: Part A would provide one-twelfth of a year of additional retirement service credit for each year of pension service, up to a maximum of three years of additional retirement service credit.

Part B would allow members to retire with an unreduced benefit if they are at least age 55 with 25 or more years of service.

I welcome someone who is more versed at these matters than me to simplify it for us.

And that's actually a very good read! While I'm still going through the bill myself, it seems clear that this is a fairly complex bill. Far more complex than the ERI bills of the 1990s I wrote about a few months back. Here's what I have read so far:

Who?

a.  "Retirement  system"  means the New York city teachers' retirement system, the New York city board of education retirement  system  or  the New  York city employees' retirement system, exclusive of the retirement plans established pursuant to sections 13-156 and 13-157 of the administrative code of the city of New York.

So that's pretty much everybody. Anyone who is in a retirement system (13-156 and 13-157 is the now defunct Public Housing Police and Transit Police). If there is one I don't see, let me know in comments. 

Age?

 a person who is at
    18  least  age fifty with ten or more years service as of the effective date
    19  of retirement (other than a member of a retirement plan  which  provides
    20  for  half-pay  pension  upon  completion  of  twenty-five  years or less
    21  service without regard to age); or a member of a retirement  plan  which
    22  provides  for  half-pay  pension upon completion of twenty-five years of
    23  service without regard to age who has not accrued, excluding  additional
    24  credit  granted  pursuant  to  this  act, the minimum number of years of
    25  service required to retire with an allowance equal to fifty  percent  of
    26  final average salary under such plan, but has, with the inclusion of the
    27  additional  credit provided under this act, accrued such number of years
    28  of credit.

Just like the 90s, it looks like a 50-10. But unlike the deal in the 1990s, there is also an offer for teachers who are 55 years old and 25 years of service. 

Conditions?

Oh yeah. And that's gonna leave a mark:

(other than a member of a retirement plan  which  provides
    20  for  half-pay  pension  upon  completion  of  twenty-five  years or less
    21  service without regard to age)

It almost looks here like they are excluding people who were signed up for 55-25. That can't be right and I'm sure there's some other provision deeper within the bill.  

The "buy" part of the buyout?

Just like during the recession of the 1990s, they are offering one extra month of service credit for each year you worked. Have you worked for 19 years? Then they are offering you 19 months of service credit. Here's the language:

one-twelfth  of  a  year  of

        additional  retirement  service credit for each year of pension service,

        up to a maximum of three years of additional retirement service  credit.