Section 219-F. Contributions and benefits

1. The sponsor of a service award
  program  shall  contribute  to  the  program a fixed amount of money, as
  determined by the sponsor, on behalf of each participant who is credited
  with a year of ambulance service. The minimum contribution shall be  one
  hundred  twenty  dollars  per  year  of  ambulance  service. The maximum
  contribution shall be  seven  hundred  dollars  per  year  of  ambulance
  service.
    2. A service award program may provide for contributions for ambulance
  service  rendered  by  a  participant  during  one  or  more of the five
  calendar years immediately preceding the year in which  the  program  is
  adopted,  but  only  to  the  extent  authorized pursuant to section two
  hundred nineteen-d of this article. In order  to  determine  eligibility
  for  such  contributions,  each ambulance company shall review its prior
  membership rosters and service records to determine the number of  years
  for which each participant is entitled to a contribution. In making such
  determination,  the  point  system  established  pursuant to subdivision
  three of section two hundred nineteen-e of this article shall  be  used.
  The  president,  secretary  and  chief  or  comparable  officers  of the
  ambulance company shall submit to the governing board of the  sponsor  a
  certified  list  of  participants who are entitled to such contributions
  and the number of years for which each  participant  is  entitled  to  a
  contribution,  and  such membership and service records as the governing
  board may require. The list shall be submitted to and  approved  by  the
  governing  board,  and posted by the ambulance company, at the same time
  and in the same manner as provided in subdivisions nine  through  eleven
  of section two hundred nineteen-e of this article, and each person named
  on  the  list  approved  by the governing board shall be entitled to the
  number of contributions indicated thereon. A person whose name does  not
  appear  on  the  list as submitted to or approved by the governing board
  shall have  the  administrative  and  judicial  remedies  set  forth  in
  subdivision eleven of section two hundred nineteen-e of this article.
    3.  The  maximum number of years for which a participant may receive a
  contribution shall be forty years.
    4.  A  service  award  shall  be  the  amount   resulting   from   the
  contributions  made  by  the  sponsor  on  behalf  of a participant less
  necessary administrative costs and shall include interest  and/or  other
  earnings  resulting  from investment of the contributions, determined as
  of the valuation date or dates provided  for  in  the  program.  Service
  awards  shall  be paid in the form of a lump sum, a life annuity with or
  without survivor benefits, a period certain annuity, or any  other  form
  provided under the program, provided, that all forms of payment shall be
  actuarially equivalent to each other. The program may limit the forms of
  payment  or  impose  conditions concerning the availability of a form of
  payment.
    5. Except as otherwise provided in this section, a  participant  shall
  be  entitled  to  apply  for  and  receive a service award only when the
  participant has acquired a nonforfeitable right to a service  award  and
  has reached entitlement age.
    6.  In  the  event  that a participant becomes totally and permanently
  disabled, as certified by  the  workers'  compensation  board  or  other
  competent  authority  approved  by the administrator, and the disability
  prevents the participant from pursuing his or her normal occupation, the
  participant shall be entitled to apply for and receive a service  award,
  regardless of whether the participant has reached entitlement age or has
  acquired a nonforfeitable right to a service award.
    7.  In  the  event  of  the  death of a participant who has acquired a
  nonforfeitable right to a service  award  and  who  has  not  previously
  received  all  or  a  portion  of  a  service  award,  the beneficiaries

  designated by the participant or,  if  no  beneficiaries  have  been  so
  designated, the participant's estate, shall be entitled to apply for and
  receive  the  participant's  service  award,  regardless  of whether the
  participant reached entitlement age before death.
    8.  A service award shall be paid only after an application is made to
  the  program  administrator   and   the   administrator   approves   the
  application.  In  the  event  that  a participant dies after receiving a
  portion of a service award, the remaining portion, if any, shall be paid
  in accordance with the terms and  conditions  of  the  form  of  payment
  selected by the participant prior to death.
    9. No service award may be assigned or alienated except to provide for
  the legally obligated support of minor children or a spouse.
    10.  Payment  of  a  service  award  shall  not  impair  any rights of
  volunteer ambulance  workers  under  the  volunteer  ambulance  workers'
  benefit law or any other law.