Fort Worth

Fort Worth City Council Approves Pension Plan Fix

City leaders seem confident a compromise will be struck

After more than three years of trying to find a pension plan compromise and a solution to fix a $1.6 billion shortfall, the Fort Worth City Council finally approved a deal Tuesday night.

“I’m very pleased where it has ended up,” Mayor Betsy Price said. “We’ve had our general employees, our police and fire employees at the table for hours the last two weeks or three weeks and I think we’ve come up with a pretty good solution.”

Both sides say it's not a perfect solution but it addresses the biggest sticking point, protecting annual cost of living increases for workers who've already retired. Current employees will take a hit to make that happen but those at Tuesday night's meeting say they have to honor the sacrifice of those who came before them.

To see what's at stake in the pension vote, look no further than retired police officer John Bell.

"One of my bullets went through where you see the hole right here," he said, pointing to a hole in the fence outside 2nd Opinion Auto Shop, right on the dividing line of Fort Worth and Haltom City. 

On that ground nearly six years ago, he was forced into a gun battle with a drug dealer running from police.

"And he had his gun out and he started firing at me and the first shot took my eye out," Bell said.

He was shot five times but managed to fight back, killing the suspect. His story is a deep reminder of the risks the city's public servants sign up for.

"Everything comes with a price and when the price is part of your retirement taken away, then that's kind of a slap in the face," Bell said.

Tuesday night city council agreed to a deal protecting the benefits of retired employees like Bell.

"It's not probably what everybody wanted, but it is a good solution moving forward," Mayor Price said. 

Under the plan, current retirees will keep their annual 2% cost of living increase. While future retirees will have to give it up, except in years when the pension fund is strong.

Current employees also have to contribute more to the fund, sacrifices labor association leaders were willing to make.

"It’s part of our brotherhood, we take care of each other, we take care of each other on the job, we take care of each other off the job when we’re off duty, but we want to for darn sure take care of each other in retirement," said Fort Worth Firefighters Association President Michael Glynn.

Police Association President Manny Ramirez added, "Protecting that earned benefit for those folks that came before us, that's monumental, I think it sets a precedent that once you walk out the door, you don't have to look behind you."

For John Bell, who now works for extra income in the very auto shop where he was shot, it means he can hold on to every dollar he more than earned.

"You need to take care of people who have taken care of you," Bell said.

City Council members in November tabled the vote on a proposal sending negotiators back to work. Both sides were grateful to have reached a solution.

“It is probably not the permanent fix for forever, and I don’t know, in today’s world, there ever is going to be a permanent fix,” Price added. “It all depends on how the fund forms, but we hope this will get us there for several years.”

City employees still need to approve this in January, which may be a tall order since the plan includes significant cuts for active workers.

“We will spend about 30 days educating people, taking their questions – going out to every employee in one form or another so they understand what the changes are and then they will have a chance to vote on them too,” Price said.

If city workers vote the plan down, it will go to the state legislature to come up with a solution.

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