Fort Worth reveals proposal to counter $1.6B pension fund shortfall

There's little support so far from city of Fort Worth retirees and worker groups to a proposal to fix the troubled Fort Worth pension find.

It was standing room only Tuesday night at the Fort Worth City Council meeting with a crowd dominated by current or retired first responders in red or ‘back the blue’ shirts.

The city's proposed pension fund fix presented on Tuesday includes adjusting, but not fully eliminating retirees' cost of living adjustment.

More than 100 supporters of police and fire were standing in council chambers. That wasn’t counting the dozens more who had a seat and the dozens more who were asked to move to the overflow room. All of them wanted the council to see the pension crisis has a huge impact.

Retired Fort Worth Firefighter Alton Bostick stood in city council chambers with more than 100 other retirees and supporters who are wondering if the cost of living adjustment, or COLA, he depends on as part of his retirement salary will be cut.

"The people who have already paid their dues and have already put the money in, and they're retired now,” he said. “So I don't think we can change the game plan for them that they had when they went out."

The city says the pension fund has a $1.6 billion gap between what is set aside to pay retirees and what is owed and will run dry in 25 years if not fixed. The city contributes $90 million a year to the pension fund. It needs $48 million more annually to save it.

During a council work session, the city manager recommended keeping COLA but at a reduced rate 2 percent of the first $20,000 of retirement.

Marsha Anderson with the Coalition of Retired Employees says making fixed income retirees part of the cuts is shameful.

"But it's less fair to put that burden on those who aren't part of the work force whose bodies are broken and whose health is failing,” she said.

The city also committed to increasing its contribution to the pension fund by $10 million a year.

Councilman Dennis Shingleton suggested the city make a smaller reduction in the property tax rate to put even more money into the pension fund.

"If we can increase the city's contribution to 4 percent, we can massage the 5.223 to a more palatable numbers for the group,” he said.

There were a number of other benefits and retirement cuts on the list of potential solutions. Police, fire, and civilian employees have been critical of the city's approach, pointing to growing city revenues and new development. They claim the city could pay more into the fund, but isn't.

"I think these folks work tirelessly for the city for years on end under the guys that they were going to get this,” said Manny Ramirez with the Fort Worth Police Officers Association. “So I think pulling the rug right out from under them years later when you're looking for a fix when you get in trouble is not exactly the right thing to do."

The City council will vote on the issue in September.