Firefly Admin Inc.

TECHNOLOGY AND LOSAP POINTS (VIDEO MEETINGS)

March 20, 2020

Since LOSAP started here in NY effective 1/1/1990, technology has improved and increased in usage. Manual sign-in sheets have been replaced with key-fobs and fingerprint readers. Pagers have been replaced with apps such as IamResponding. Online training classes are becoming the norm rather than the exception. With any system or process, it is important to…

TECHNOLOGY AND LOSAP POINTS (VIDEO MEETINGS)

March 20, 2020

Since LOSAP started here in NY effective 1/1/1990, technology has improved and increased in usage. Manual sign-in sheets have been replaced with key-fobs and fingerprint readers. Pagers have been replaced with apps such as IamResponding. Online training classes are becoming the norm rather than the exception. With any system or process, it is important to…

IMPACT OF COVID-19 ON EARNING POINTS

March 18, 2020

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, directives from government agencies of all levels – Federal and State for certain, but also County and other local governments – have resulted in the cancellation of many events, including activities of our volunteer fire departments. Departments are cancelling regularly-scheduled meetings and drills. In-person training classes have also…

MILITARY LEAVE

February 16, 2020

A question came in about military leave, and we thought it would be a good subject for a blog post. In a prior post, we discussed who is eligible for military leave points. You can read more here: who-is-eligible-for-military-leave-points.html We encourage you to read this prior post carefully, but the takeaway is that our interpretation is that…

STREAKS

January 31, 2020

We seem to like streaks. For those of you engaged in Snapchat, streaks are counted for the number of consecutive days you snap with someone else. At least, that is what my teenage daughter tells me. Age is a streak – how many days have you woken up to live another day. In sports, we…

PROFESSIONAL

December 31, 2019

What does it mean to be a professional? In many contexts, the term professional means paid, in particular in the sporting world. A professional athlete is paid, an amateur is not. Muhammad Ali (then Cassius Clay) won the light heavyweight gold medal in the 1960 Olympics as an amateur. In October of that same year, he…

DOES A VOLUNTEER HAVE TO BE ACTIVE ON 12/31 TO EARN SERVICE CREDIT?

September 3, 2019

A question came in about the following: A firefighter earned 50 points during the time he was an active member, but resigned before the end of the year. Should he be eligible to earn service credit and therefore a benefit? Before we address our opinion on this question, we need to be clear that this…

PROJECTED DC ACCOUNT BALANCES

July 30, 2019

In the last post, we settled on 4.5% as an assumed rate of return when projecting the DC account balances. However I decided it was just as easy to perform the calculations at 4.00%, 4.50% and 5.00%, therefore giving some more options. Below you will see two charts. The first chart assumes and Entitlement Age…

DB AND DC – AKA APPLES AND ORANGES

July 19, 2019

Trying to compare the DB and DC plans is exactly like the old saying of trying to compare apples to oranges. Just like fruit, part of the decision making process in selecting which type of plan is better comes down to preference and taste – not something that can be analyzed. But, the analysis is…

LOSAP STATUTE AMENDMENT PASSES SENATE & ASSEMBLY

June 21, 2019

Bill A 7552 / S 4207-A has passed the Assembly and Senate. This bill increases the Defined Contribution service award from $700 to $1,200. Now, we wait for the Governor to sign it into law. When the law was amended to increase the contribution from $480 to $700, the Governor had not signed the bill into…