Houston Pension Audit Funded

Houston will spend $395,000 to audit city pension plans to get information that Mayor Annise Parker said is needed to protect taxpayers and public employees.

A task force of City Council members and Parker said earlier this year that the city’s general fund pension bill could grow by more than $100 million over the next four years. The city currently allocates 9% of general fund revenues to employee retirement funds.

Houston filed suit in May against the Houston Firefighters’ Relief and Retirement Fund in an effort to look at the fund’s books. Parker said the audit could help the city find effective solutions to its pension problems.

“The audit is to inform council and me as we work through this issue,” she said at last week’s council session. “I have a pretty good idea of what we need to do to change our pensions to make them affordable, but I want to have this as a strong undergirding of that.”

Councilwoman Helena Brown was the sole vote against the audit. She said the city should default on its pension obligations and allow the courts to determine a solution.

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