MIDLAND, Texas — For years the Midland Firemen’s Relief and Retirement Fund has been under-funded, but the City of Midland says they’re working on changing that.
The issues with the firemen pension fund go back further than most people think, according to the Midland fire chief.
“These issues, they’ve been taking place since the 2000s," Midland Fire Chief Charles Blumenauer said. "Lots of little things have been asked for the fund to do and fix and some of those were not implemented at the time.”
But Mayor Lori Blong says in the past year they've gotten serious about addressing this problem and they are currently taking steps to address the under-funding.
The city has hired a new investment advisor and they've changed the way they manage their investments.
The city has also hired a new actuary that's also completed a study.
"The firemen pension fund is to provide the retirement for the fire department," Mayor Blong said. "There are already over 200 recipients or participants in the program who have retired. Then all of the current fire department are paying into that system. So it is our commitment as a city to our firefighters to help them with their retirement and we need to honor that commitment."
Mayor Blong also added that she plans to bring up a two percent increase in contributions to the fund from the city at a city council meeting on Dec. 12.