Max LOSAP Service Credit May Now Be 50 Years!

Former Governor Cuomo signed Bill S1091A which extended the maximum number of years of credit a volunteer firefighter can earn under the Service Award Program point system from forty years to fifty years.

When Penflex clients originally adopted their Service Award Program, many allowed their volunteers to earn up to forty years of credit in the program which was the maximum number allowed under Articles 11-A of the New York State General Municipal Law. However, as a way to minimize the initial cost of their program, other sponsors of Service Award Programs limited the maximum number of years credit a volunteer could earn under the point system to thirty, twenty or even fewer years.

Given that the first plans would have been established in NYS as of January 1, 1990, a participant won’t yet have earned 40 years of service credit, even with a 5-year buyback credit. Therefore, if your board of fire commissioners, town board or village board is considering increasing the maximum service credit to fifty years, there is no need to rush and hold the election for the mandatory referendum.

In addition, the cost increase to make this change to your program will depend directly on the number of volunteers participating in your program who have close to forty years of service credit. How many will earn 40+ years of service credit under the point system? How many will continue to be active?

You will need to disclose the estimated cost to change your LOSAP in the voter proposition used for your mandatory election. Contact Penflex Actuarial Services at 1-800-742-1409 or info@penflexinc.com. We have experience in calculating estimated costs for making this type of change to your program. Moreover, if you are considering making other changes to your program (such as increasing the Service Award from $20 to $30 in a defined benefit program), it may make sense to seek voter approval for both changes in the same election. At this point, we don’t expect that the cost increase to allow a participant to earn 50 years of service credit will be significant. Asking your voters to approve multiple amendments in one election (especially one with a small price tag) may be prudent if additional changes are being considered.