§ 1000. Military service credit. Notwithstanding any law to the contrary, a member of a public retirement system of the state, as defined in subdivision twenty-three of section five hundred one of this chapter, shall be eligible for credit for military service as hereinafter provided:

1. A member, upon application to such retirement system, may obtain a total not to exceed three years of service credit for up to three years of military duty, as defined in section two hundred forty-three of the military law, if the member was honorably discharged from the military.

2. A member must have at least five years of credited service (not including service granted hereunder) to be eligible to receive credit under this section.

3. To obtain such credit, a member shall pay such retirement system, for deposit in the fund used to accumulate employer contributions, a sum equal to the product of the number of years of military service being claimed and three percent of such member's compensation earned during the twelve months of credited service immediately preceding the date that the member made application for credit pursuant to this section. If permitted by rule or regulation of the applicable retirement system, the member may pay such member costs by payroll deduction for a period which shall not exceed the time period of military service to be credited pursuant to this section. In the event the member leaves the employer payroll prior to completion of payment, he or she shall forward all remaining required payments to the appropriate retirement system prior to the effective date of retirement. If the full amount of such member costs is not paid to the appropriate retirement system prior to the member's retirement, the amount of service credited shall be proportional to the total amount of the payments made prior to retirement.

4. In no event shall the credit granted pursuant to this section, when added to credit granted for military service with any retirement system of this state pursuant to this or any other provision of law, exceed a total of three years.

5. To be eligible to receive credit for military service under this section, a member must make application for such credit before the effective date of retirement.

6. All costs for service credited to a member pursuant to this section, other than the member costs set forth in subdivision three of this section, shall be paid by the state and all employers which participate in the retirement system in which such member is granted credit.

7. A member who has purchased military service credit pursuant to section two hundred forty-four-a of the military law shall be entitled to a refund of the difference between the amount paid by the member for such purchase and the amount that would be payable if service had been purchased pursuant to this section.

8. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, in the event of death prior to retirement, amounts paid by the member for the purchase of military service credit pursuant to this section shall be refunded, with interest, to the extent the military service purchased with such amounts does not produce a greater death benefit than would have been payable had the member not purchased such credit.

Notwithstanding any other provision of law, in the event of retirement, amounts paid by the member for the purchase of military service credit pursuant to this section shall be refunded, with interest, to the extent the military service purchased with such amounts does not produce a greater retirement allowance than would have been payable had the member not purchased such credit.

9. Anything to the contrary in subdivision three of this section notwithstanding, to obtain such credit, a member who first joins a public retirement system of the state on or after April first, two thousand twelve shall pay such retirement system, for deposit in the fund used to accumulate employer contributions, a sum equal to the product of the number of years of military service being claimed and six percent of such member's compensation earned during the twelve months of credited service immediately preceding the date that the member made application for credit pursuant to this section.