Council special committee on pension reform still up to the challenge

News

by David Chapman

Staff Writer

Since their appointment in early March, members of the Special Committee on City Pension Sustainability have had their work cut out for them.

Consisting of five Council members — Chair Michael Corrigan, Vice Chair Warren Jones, Reggie Brown, Kevin Hyde and Stephen Joost — the committee was appointed by then-Council President Ronnie Fussell to study City pension reform with the goal to create ideas to deal with the long-term fiscal health of each of the City’s pension plans.

By holding two meetings a month, the committee had a goal of June 1 to produce findings and solutions. With the complexity of the pension situation, though, the committee was extended by Council President Richard Clark into the next Council year, which began July 1.

“I think it’s going well,” said Corrigan. “We came into it looking at two areas of work, unfunded liabilities and pension reform, and we’ve made progress on both.”

Thus far, Corrigan said the situation has been easier to handle than he originally anticipated. In the beginning, he was concerned about the possibility of tension between various sides due to the competitive stances by pension experts.

That hasn’t been the case. One of the committee’s goals is to not interfere with collective bargaining agreement discussion between the two sides.

“I’ve really been impressed with everyone’s willingness to work together,” said Corrigan. “In the end, I’ve learned that everybody wants the pension system to work.”

Corrigan noted Mayor John Peyton’s budget proposal as referencing some of the committee’s dialogue and was not using accelerated funds to meet pension obligations.

One of the underlying missions of the committee, he believes, is to help the public understand that the pension system in its current state is not feasible — something both he and Fussell claimed during the announcement of the creation of the committee.

In terms of importance, the committee has outlived its initial 90-day projection and Corrigan perceives it existing until both the City’s budget is passed and the new collective bargaining agreements are settled.

As for the most recent meeting Tuesday afternoon, Corrigan thought the main goals of recharging the committee, discussion on the mayor’s budget as it relates to pension and gaining a better understanding on issues such as rate of return and “pension holidays” were all accomplished.

“I went into the meeting not very optimistic,” admitted Corrigan, “but I came out just the opposite.”

As for future meetings, the committee will use Tuesday’s Council meeting when the millage rate will be set as potential discussion items, as well as resubmitted ideas presented by Keane that included the issuance of City bonds into the fixed income portfolio of the Police and Fire Pension Fund as an element of the City’s pension contribution for 2010 or real estate assets — with the stated example of the old Federal Courthouse — to offset the contribution amount.

“Ideas like that (bonds or real estate issuance) we need to look closer at and explore to see if they’re a good idea or bad idea,” said Corrigan. “They’re things we need to think about.”

One of the experts on the pension matter that the committee can lean on for information was happy to see the life of the committee lengthened.

“We’re very thankful that (Council) President Clark has extended the committee,” said John Keane, Police and Fire Pension Fund executive director/administrator. “It’s an excellent forum to get a lot of ideas out and into discussion.”

Keane, one of several experts who attend each meeting with ideas and suggestions, praised the work of Corrigan and the other Council members on the committee, calling the topic of pension sustainability an extremely important issue with “more than one way to achieve it.”

Pension Sustainability Committee meetings are open to the public and are on the first and third Tuesday of each month in Council Chambers. The next meeting is Aug. 4.

Who they are

Council Special Committee on Pension Reform members

City Council members

• Michael Corrigan, chair

• Warren Jones, vice chair

• Reggie Brown

• Kevin Hyde

• Stephen Joost

The experts

• Henry Cook, Jacksonville Retirement System trustee

• John Keane, Police and Fire Pension Fund administrator

• Alan Mosley, City chief administrative officer