[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Trustees of the Village
of Hillburn as indicated in article histories. Amendments noted where
applicable.]
The Board of Trustees of the Incorporated Village of Hillburn,
as authorized by Article 11-A of the New York State General Municipal
Law, directs that there shall be a public referendum of eligible voters
of the Incorporated Village of Hillburn to determine whether a service
award program for active volunteer firefighters of the Hillburn Fire
Department shall be established effective January 1, 2005.
The type of program shall be a defined benefit plan as described
in § 219 of Article 11-A. All active volunteer firefighters
who are at least 16 years old and who are active members of the Hillburn
Fire Department, in accordance with such fire department's bylaws,
shall be eligible to become service award program participants. Unless
they waive participation, an eligible person age 16 or older shall
become a participant on December 31 of the first calendar year after
calendar year 2004 during which he or she earns a year of service
award program service credit.
This service award program shall be administered and operated
by the Incorporated Village of Hillburn Village Board of Trustees
through recommendations from the Service Award Committee (i.e., the
"SAC"). The SAC shall consist of representatives from the Village
and the Fire Department.
Hillburn Fire Department active volunteer firefighters shall have the opportunity to earn pension-like and pre-entitlement-age death and disability benefits under the service award program. The pension-like benefit shall be a monthly payment accrued service award paid to a participant, with payments beginning after attainment of age 65, the "entitlement age," but not before a participant earns at least one year of service award program service credit for calendar years after calendar year 2004. The monthly payment accrued service award shall be equal to $30 for each year of service award program service credit earned. The maximum monthly payment shall be $1,200. In addition, all such payments are subject to reduction or cessation, as may be required to comply with applicable sections of the Internal Revenue Code. In the event that a participant begins to be paid such monthly payments and then dies before receiving 120 monthly payments, the participant's designated beneficiary (or estate, if no beneficiary is selected) shall be paid a lump-sum payment equal to the discounted value of the remaining payments. By the adoption of a resolution, the Village Board of Trustees may add other actuarially equivalent forms of such monthly payments. The pre-entitlement-age vested participant (see § 25-5) death benefit shall be a lump-sum payable to the vested participant's designated beneficiary (or estate, if no beneficiary is designated) and shall be equal to the discounted value at the time of death of the actuarial present value of the vested participant's accrued service award. A participant who is awarded benefit payments due to a total and permanent disability by the Social Security Administration or by any entity which pays benefits under the Volunteer Firefighters' Benefit Law or by any other authority approved by the Village Board of Trustees/SAC shall be eligible to be paid a pre-entitlement-age disability benefit payment under the service award program. Such disability benefit payment shall be a lump-sum payment to the participant equal to the discounted actuarial present value of the participant's accrued service award, payable upon application by the participant to and approval by the Village Board of Trustees/SAC. The Board of Trustees/SAC may, at its discretion, consider a firefighter to be totally and permanently disabled if the firefighter is unable to earn a year of service credit due to a disability which first prevents a firefighter from earning a year of service credit after December 31, 2004 and before December 31, 2007. The SAC may require a physician to certify such disability.
A participant's accrued service award shall become fully
vested (i.e., a participant shall obtain nonforfeitable right to his
or her accrued service award) after he or she earns and does not permanently
forfeit service award program service credit for at least five years
of active volunteer firefighter service or attains age 65 while an
active member or he or she is awarded a service award program total
and permanent disability benefit payment.
As of December 31 of the year a nonvested participant ceases
to be an active member of the Hillburn Fire Department, he or she
shall forfeit any earned service credit and any accrued service award.
The forfeited service credit and accrued service award of a person
who ceased to be an active member of the Hillburn Fire Department
shall be restored if the person again becomes an active member of
the Hillburn Fire Department within five years and subsequently earns
at least one year of service credit under the service award program
point system.
A year of service award program service credit shall be earned
by a participant for each calendar year after 2004 during which a
participant earns at least 50 points while an active member of the
Hillburn Fire Department for participating in the volunteer firefighter
activities set forth by the Village Board of Trustees/SAC in the service
award program point system as authorized by § 217 of Article
11-A of the General Municipal Law and during which he or she agrees
to participate in the service award program. The point system shall
be set forth in writing and copies of the written explanation of the
point system shall be distributed to active volunteer firefighters.
The Village Board of Trustees/SAC may amend the point system from
time to time, provided such amendments are allowable under all applicable
statutes, rules and regulations. In the event the point system is
amended by the Village Board of Trustees/SAC, a written explanation
of the changes shall be distributed to active members within 60 days
of the date such changes are adopted.
A.
Up to five years of service credit may be earned under the point
system by eligible participants for service prior to January 1, 2005
and after December 31, 1999. To be eligible to earn credit for such
service, a participant must earn two or more years of service credit
under the service award program point system during the three-year
period, January 1, 2005 to December 31, 2007; provided, however, active
members who were age 65 or older on January 1, 2005 shall be required
to earn credit under the service award program point system for only
one calendar year during such three-year period to be come eligible
to earn credit for active volunteer firefighter service before January
1, 2005 and after December 31, 1999. Based upon available Fire Department
records for each calendar year prior to January 1, 2005 but after
December 31, 1999 during which an eligible participant was at least
16 years old, a year of service credit shall be earned for each such
calendar year during which the firefighter would have earned a year
of service credit under the point system.
B.
An active member eligible to earn credit for service before January 1, 2005 who, during calendar year 2005, 2006 or 2007, dies or becomes totally and permanently disabled shall be considered to have been a Participant at the time of his or her death or disablement. Such person shall be given credit for his or her otherwise allowable pre-2005 service if during calendar year 2005, 2006 or 2007 he or she was prevented by his or her death or disablement from earning service credit under the point system (as determined by the Village Board of Trustees/SAC). For this purpose, an active volunteer firefighter must be eligible to be paid a service award program disability benefit in accordance with § 25-4 of this chapter.
Persons who continue to be active members of the Hillburn Fire
Department after they attain the entitlement age shall have the opportunity
to continue to earn service credit under the point system. The additional
monthly service award payment earned by a participant during a calendar
year shall commence to be paid as of January 1 in the next succeeding
calendar year.
Under Article 11-A of the General Municipal Law, the Incorporated
Village of Hillburn shall be the service award program "sponsor" and
the Village Board of Trustees shall be the "trustees" of the Service
Award Program Trust Fund. The Village Board of Trustees shall have
the authority to manage or dispose of program assets and shall do
so in the interest of the firefighters who participate in the program
and the firefighters' beneficiaries. The Village Board of Trustees
may authorize individuals or entities to hold and invest the program
assets. They may also seek investment counsel.
The Village Board of Trustees may retain a qualified firm to
assist it to administer the program.
The total calendar year 2005 annual cost, payable in calendar
year 2006, of funding the Incorporated Village of Hillburn Service
Award Program benefits is estimated to be about $85,000 or about $2,850
per firefighter, including the cost of administration. The estimated
annual cost to administer the program for calendar year 2005 is about
$2,500. The annual cost for current firefighters is expected to decrease
by about 33 1/3% after 10 years when the cost of service awards
earned for service before January 1, 2005 shall be fully paid.
Incorporated Village of Hillburn Service Award Program benefit
payments shall commence to eligible firefighters after December 31,
2005 when they and/or their beneficiaries qualify for payment. No
benefit shall be paid under the program for a firefighter's death
occurring on or disability commencing before the date on which Village
residents approve a proposition to establish the program or before
a firefighter becomes a participant in the program.
All other provisions of the Incorporated Village of Hillburn
Service Award Program shall be in accordance with Article 11-A of
the General Municipal Law, as amended from time to time.
