REMINDER - Our Pension is Safe

(This comment is from Mike Trainer, SAPD Retiree and very much involved in keeping us abreast of activities relating to Retiree Health and Pension benefits.)

I have included an article (below) that appeared in today's (6-26-2007) Express News. The article concerns statements made by Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott.

Some retirees from the San Antonio Fire and Police Pension Fund have expressed concern after reading this article. I have attended all the meetings for most of last year and all of the meetings this year. Let me assure you YOUR PENSION FUND and YOUR PENSION is in GREAT SHAPE! The Attorney General himself states that most of the listed public pension plans seem to be stable and seem to rank well compared with those in other states. I would agree with the last statement.

Our pension fund is being run in a responsible manner. Our fund has a return of approximately
14% so far this year. Yes that means our Fund Board Members could vote to pay a 13^th check if this trend continues. We could also be eligible for a 14^th check, by vote of the Board, if our rate of return continues this high. These extra pension checks would not and could not be made available to the members of the fund if the fund was is bad shape. The bottom line is WE are in GOOD SHAPE and GETTING BETTER!

The Attorney General's statements appear to be the opposite of the Governor's. Remember that the Governor refused to sign our pension bill. He stated that the safety of our pension benefits was a local issue. That as such the safety and benefits did not need to be codified. Kinda makes you think there is a little jockeying for position in the next political race. All is not well in the Texas Government. I understand that the Governor's statement and the Attorney General's statement are not exactly oranges to oranges. Their described action and solution is at opposite ends of the pole.

Today's Fire and Police Pension Fund Board meeting was a normal business session. There was a swearing in ceremony for Active Fire Representative Captain Donald Wagoner, Active Police Representative D/C Harry Griffin and Retired Police Representative Alex Perez. The new Board members were sworn in by the Board Secretary Lieutenant Bart Moczygemba. Plaques were presented to past Board members Retired Fire Representative Carlos Resendez, Active Police Representative Teddy Stewart and Retired Police Representative Curtis Creed. The plaques were handed out by Vice-Chairman D/C Harry Griffin.

Your Friend in Retirement

Michael

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Attachement:

Attorney general calls for new pension-plan safeguards

Web Posted: 06/26/2007 01:21 AM CDT

Polly Ross Hughes, Austin Bureau

AUSTIN — Pointing out that 82 public pension plans in Texas have unfunded liabilities totaling $23 billion, Attorney General Greg Abbott recommended several reforms Monday to protect taxpayer interests along with those of government retirees.

Unfunded liabilities are the difference between a pension plan's assets and the expected future cost of providing benefits to employees in the system. "Our analysis shows that there may be best practices that plans can use to help them reduce or eliminate unfunded liabilities," Abbott said, "without burdening taxpayers or beneficiaries."

The attorney general, presenting his findings at a convention of the Texas Pension Review Board, outlined four key areas for reform:

Eliminate conflicts of interest between fund managers and pension board trustees and those they do business with.

Require actuaries to register with the state oversight board.

Balance taxpayer interests with employer and employee interests in determining the makeup of pension plan trustee boards.

Consider passing laws creating civil or criminal penalties for funds that don't file required annual reports.

"I also realize that here are more than 2 million beneficiaries who are counting on all of us - me included - to protect their retirement," Abbott said. "To get that job done, we must find ways to work together to reduce the more than $23 billion in unfunded liabilities that hang over public pension plans in the state of Texas."

Abbott's list, based on numbers supplied by the Texas Pension Review Board, shows unfunded liabilities include the San Antonio Fire and Police Pension Fund at $234.7 million and the San Antonio Metropolitan Transit Retirement Plan at $6.6 million. Abbot called such unfunded assets cautionary flags, but also said most of the public pension plans "seem to be stable" and "seem to rank well" compared with those in other states.

Some pension experts say unfunded liability figures are less important than the ability of a pension sponsor - say, the City of San Antonio - to afford the required payments to the fund.

Abbott said he is most troubled about 17 other public pension plans at risk because they would need more than 40 years to pay off more than $16 billion in total unfunded liabilities. The list contains none of the public pension plans in San Antonio or South Texas, but it does include the Teacher Retirement System of Texas, with unfunded liabilities of nearly $13.7 billion.

Craig Mason, a pension adviser to the city of Houston and a board member on three city pension funds, said Abbott's focus on unfunded liabilities might be overstated. "I think it's more important to focus on what the actual contribution level is," he said. Mason applauded some of Abbott's ideas for reforming public pension funds, though. "I think many of the boards, the majority of people on the boards are also beneficiaries of the funds," he said. "There needs to be better balance between beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries."

polly.hughes@chron.com

Houston Chronicle Staff Writer Matt Stiles contributed to this report from Houston.

Online at: http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/politics/stories/MYSA062607.05B.pension_funds.35da279.html