Section 17. Annual appropriation by participating employers

a. On or before
  the  fifteenth day of November, nineteen hundred eighty-nine and of each
  succeeding calendar year, the comptroller  shall  determine  the  amount
  which  each  participating employer is required to pay to the retirement
  system to discharge its obligations thereto for the fiscal year  of  the
  retirement  system  which ends on March thirty-first of nineteen hundred
  ninety and of each succeeding calendar year on account of its  employees
  who  are  members  of  this  system. The comptroller shall submit to the
  fiscal officer of each such  employer  a  statement  of  the  amount  so
  payable.
    This  amount  shall  consist of the amount deemed necessary to provide
  for  payment  in  full  of  (i)  all  estimated  obligations   of   each
  participating  employer  for  the  current fiscal year of the retirement
  systems and (ii)  any  additional  obligation,  plus  interest  on  such
  amount,  for  fiscal  years  preceding  the current fiscal year. If as a
  result of the amount determined to  be  paid  for  any  fiscal  year,  a
  participating  employer overpaid its actual obligation to the retirement
  system for that year, the amount to be determined by the comptroller for
  the next succeeding November fifteenth shall reflect the amount  of  the
  overpayment, plus interest as defined in section sixteen of this article
  on  such  amount,  as a reduction in the amount otherwise required to be
  paid by such participating employer.
    b. Each  participating  employer  annually  shall  appropriate  a  sum
  sufficient  to pay such amount. In the event the comptroller's statement
  is not received before annual appropriations are made by such  employer,
  a  sum  estimated  by  the comptroller to be sufficient for such purpose
  shall be included with such annual appropriations.
    c. Payment of the amount  specified  in  the  comptroller's  statement
  shall  be  made  by  a  participating employer within seventy-eight days
  after the receipt of such statement; provided, however, that in no  case
  shall any participating employer be required to make this payment before
  February first of the calendar year next succeeding the calendar year in
  which  such  statement  is  received.  The  comptroller is authorized to
  provide for and accept pre-payment.
    d. If payment of the full amount of such obligations is  not  made  by
  the  date  required by subdivision c of this section, interest at a rate
  determined in accordance with the provisions of section sixteen of  this
  article  shall commence to run against the unpaid balance thereof on the
  first day after the date required by said subdivision c.
    e. The comptroller shall have full power and authority to  bring  suit
  in  the  supreme court against any participating employer to recover any
  sum, payment of which is not made as herein required. While any such sum
  shall remain due and unpaid he may refuse to audit any claim  for  funds
  due to such employer from the state.