Section 378-A. Cost-of-living adjustment

a. A cost-of-living adjustment
  shall be payable on the basis provided for in this section to:  (i)  all
  pensioners  who  have  attained  age sixty-two and have been retired for
  five years; (ii) all pensioners who have  attained  age  fifty-five  and
  have  been  retired  for  ten years; and (iii) all disability pensioners
  regardless of age who have been retired for five years.
    b. Said cost-of-living adjustment shall be a percentage of the  annual
  retirement   allowance  otherwise  payable,  computed  without  optional
  modification, but including any benefit derived from  subdivision  f  of
  this section and any prior year's cost-of-living adjustment derived from
  this  section.  Said  percentage  is  set forth in subdivision d of this
  section.
    c. Said cost-of-living adjustment shall be computed on a base  benefit
  amount  not to exceed eighteen thousand dollars of the annual retirement
  allowance defined in subdivision b of this section.
    d. The percentage referred to in  this  section  shall  be  determined
  annually  by reference to the consumer price index (all urban consumers,
  CPI-U, U.S. city average, all  items,  1982-84=100),  published  by  the
  United  States  bureau of labor statistics, for each applicable calendar
  year. Said percentage shall equal fifty percent of the annual inflation,
  as determined from the increase in the consumer price index in  the  one
  year period ending on the March thirty-first prior to the cost-of-living
  adjustment  effective  on  the  ensuing September first. Said percentage
  shall then be rounded up to the next higher one-tenth of one percent and
  shall not exceed three percent nor be less than one percent.
    e.  Said  cost-of-living  adjustment  shall  be  payable  in   monthly
  installments  and  shall  take  effect  September  first  of  each  year
  commencing with a payment for the month of September, two thousand  one,
  or,  if  later,  as  soon  as practicable after the retired member first
  becomes  eligible  to  receive  the  benefits   provided   pursuant   to
  subdivision a of this section.
    f.  Commencing  September first, two thousand, all retired members who
  have retired prior to the calendar year  nineteen  hundred  ninety-seven
  and who meet the eligibility criteria set forth in subdivision a of this
  section shall be paid an adjusted benefit in monthly installments on the
  basis  provided  for in this subdivision. Said adjusted benefit shall be
  equal to a percentage of the change in consumer price index  (all  urban
  consumers,  CPI-U, U.S. city average, all items, 1982-84=100), published
  by the United States bureau of labor statistics, measured from the  year
  of  retirement  through  calendar  year  nineteen  hundred  ninety-seven
  according to the following schedule:
 
        Year of retirement                     Percentage
        1968 through 1996                      50%
        1966 and 1967                          55%
        1965                                   60%
        1964                                   65%
        1963                                   70%
        1962                                   80%
        1961                                   90%
        prior to 1961                          100%
  Said adjusted benefit shall be computed on a base benefit amount not  to
  exceed  eighteen  thousand dollars of the retirement allowance otherwise
  payable, computed without optional modification.  Any  benefit  received
  pursuant  to  this  subdivision shall be in lieu of any benefit received
  pursuant to section three hundred seventy-eight of this title.
    g. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the surviving spouse of
  a deceased retired member who retired under  an  option  which  provides

  that benefits are to be continued for life to the surviving spouse after
  the  death  of the retired member, shall be entitled to receive benefits
  pursuant to this section. Said benefits shall be fifty  percent  of  the
  monthly benefits which the pensioner would be receiving pursuant to this
  section  if  living, and shall commence (i) with a payment for the month
  of September, two thousand, or (ii) the month following the death of the
  deceased retired member, whichever is later.
    h. The benefits provided pursuant to this section shall be in lieu  of
  the  benefits  presently provided by section five hundred ten or article
  four or six of this chapter unless such benefits are in excess of  those
  provided  by  this section, in which case such benefits shall be paid by
  the retirement system pursuant to such provision.