After multiple discussion sessions and communications between a Houston Firefighters’ Relief and Retirement Fund team and Mayor Sylvester Turner and his team, the Fund has agreed to move forward on working on the specifics of pension reform legislation with the City of Houston. The proposed Terms and Conditions constitute a non-binding framework for drafting legislative language for a jointly proposed bill in the 85TH Texas legislature. The City has asserted that the current plan of firefighter retirement benefits has become burdensome on the taxpayers.

The proposed provisions outlined in the “Pension Reform Proposal Terms and Conditions”, referenced above, are subject to a mutual agreement and resolution of legislative language between the Fund’s Board and the City. No further benefit changes or other changes to the Fund’s pension plan are to be advanced by the City, except those that might be agreed upon in writing by the City and the Fund.

The Fund has over $3.8 billion in assets and is one of the best funded public retirement funds in Texas. Less than 3% of the city’s budget goes to pay firefighter benefits. The benefits are funded for the most part not by the taxpayers, but chiefly by the Fund’s endowment that has been built up in trust over decades by an excellent investment program.