FORT WORTH -- Nearly two thirds of Fort Worth police officers voted in favor of increasing their contributions to retain their retirement benefits formula, throwing it to City Council members to decide whether they want negotiate that as part of the Fort Worth Police Officers Association's contract.
Sixty-six percent -- 1,041 -- of eligible officers voted, officials said Tuesday. And of those, 1,021 voted in favor of increasing their contributions, according to results canvassed Tuesday by the Fort Worth Employees' Retirement Fund.A majority of eligible officers was needed to vote in favor to advance the issue with the council, which can accept or reject the results. A service hired by the police association ran the election."It's still totally in the city's control," Ruth Ryerson, executive director of the retirement fund, said of what happens next.Under the police association's ballot language, if the council accepts the vote, the issue would be settled in ongoing negotiations for a new police contract.That would muddy things for the council, which is set to vote Oct. 23 on major changes to the pension plan for police and general employees, designed to bring the retirement fund's big liability into check."We remain committed to addressing the pension challenges," Mayor Betsy Price said in an interview after the vote results were disclosed. "We do agree the pension's got to be affordable and sustainable."The city's actuary is still working on an estimate of the police association's proposal on the fund's health and unfunded liability and is expected to present those results to the council Oct. 16, Bill Begley, a city spokesman, said."We need to just gather all our information in order to make an informed decision about the plan," Price said.Sgt. Steve Hall, president of the police association, said its actuarial calculations showed the association's proposal would reduce the unfunded liability because of the extra money coming in from police contributions, which would rise to 11.73 percent of gross pay, from the current 8.73.The retirement fund board voted earlier this year to allow its actuary to perform the calculations for the police association, which paid for the report.The report said the increased police contributions would lower the retirement fund's liability and number of years required to pay it down.The unfunded liability would be $968.4 million at Jan. 1, 2015 without changes, and $962.76 million with them, the report said.The number of years required to pay down the liability would drop to 33.2 from 40.9, the report said.Although the city hasn't received an opinion from its actuary, Price said the "initial blush from our actuary is they believe [the POA proposal] will make some impact, but it won't be enough to stabilize the pension long-term."Hall said the association was pleased with the results of the vote. "This is a strong issue, and we need to send the message that we're behind this," he said.Hall said he hopes the council will put off its Oct. 23 vote on pension changes and "that they would continue the dialogue between us and the city until we reach a resolution that both parties are comfortable with."The council voted earlier this summer to give 90 days notice of pension changes to police and general employees. The changes would reduce benefits for future service, but not for past service, which are protected by the state constitution. The police association has said the city's plan is tantamount to illegal reductions in vested benefits and has contributed to a drag on officers' morale.In giving notice this summer, the City Council said it would reduce the so-called "multiplier" that helps determine benefits. The police association proposal retains the current multiplier.The city's new pension formula would base retirement benefits for future service on an average of an employee's five highest years of pay, instead of the current three. The police association proposal would retain the three years' average for current officers, but offered five years for officers hired in the future.The city's new formula would eliminate overtime in calculations for future service, so employees -- largely police -- can no longer "spike" their retirement benefits by working a lot of overtime.The police association proposal retains a cap on overtime in pension calculations at 12 percent of base pay for the highest three years of pay.The pension changes don't affect firefighters, who have separate, ongoing contract negotiations with the city.Scott Nishimura, 817-390-7808Twitter: @JScottNishimuraHave more to add? News tip? Tell us
