Category: General

In the latest issue of The Volunteer Firefighter, the official publication of the Firemen’s Association of the State of New York, there was an article by FASNY General Counsel Timothy Hannigan about junior firefighters. You can read the article here: FASNY ARTICLE Mr. Hannigan extensively covers the risks and rewards of having a restricted member firefighter program.…

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Yesterday, Monday August 9th, bill A2239a was delivered to the Governor. This bill would extend the maximum years of service credit that can be earned in a volunteer firefighter service award program from 40 to 50 years. Therefore, this also extends the number of years in which a participating firefighter can accrue benefits by another…

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We were asked if a person on a leave of absence from the fire department can earn points for attending online meetings and trainings. First, we cannot give legal advice, and this post is not intended to be legal advice. If you have a similar question and this blog post is helpful, we suggest sharing…

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In researching an issue this week, we stumbled across an article titled, The Anatomy of a Lump-Sum Conversion, written by Corey Swarner, CPC, MBA of Milliman.  In various posts, we’ve attempted to provide readers with an understanding of actuarial math including the time-value of money, and actuarial concepts such as life expectancy. But we think Corey…

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At the end of March, we alerted readers to a bill that would amend Sections 218 and 219 of the New York State General Municipal Law to increase the maximum years of service credit that can be earned by a participant from 40 to 50 years. You can read that post here. The bill is S1091A…

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There are two bills that have been introduced in the current session regarding LOSAP. One appears to be on track to be passed by both houses in 2021. They both would impact only volunteer firefighter LOSAPs adopted pursuant to Article 11-A, not volunteer ambulance squad plans governed by Articles 11-AA and 11-AAA. The purpose of…

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With every new version of our favorite technology – such as smartphones, televisions, and even cars – we can accomplish or experience something better than we were previously able. The computer has certainly helped the actuary by increasing the speed and accuracy in which calculations can be made. But like many trade-specific tools, the available…

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If a village, town, city, or fire district elected to participate in the “State pension” in order to provide a retirement benefit to its employees, that municipality is participating in the New York State and Local Retirement System (NYSLRS). This system is actually comprised of two pension plans – the Employee’s Retirement System (ERS) and…

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Firefly Admin Inc. is guided by six core principles – Serve, Trust, Value, Teach, Grow, and Collaborate. These principles can be applied in many ways, including both in how we deliver our services to clients and how we operate internally as a team. Recently, we have made several internal decisions on enhancing our service offerings,…

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