Midland Fire Department discusses pension with city council

MIDLAND, Texas (KMID/KPEJ) – Tuesday morning, the Midland Fire Department gave its comment to Mayor Lori Blong and the City Council regarding their pension plan, an issue that has been lingering for years now.

The issue stems from the Midland Fireman’s Relief and Retirement Fund being underfunded by $120 million. That fund is currently in amortization status according to a press release given to Big 2. This means it will lower in value over time but is still not low enough for the city to pay it off.

“The city asks the best they require the best, the deserve the best,” said one of the firemen who spoke at the city council meeting. “Let’s make that happen. Let’s keep the best. Let’s not lose mass numbers.”

As a way to find a solution, firefighters voted to reduce their own benefits last year in 2023, which was related to the city’s use of mandatory overtime in fire stations. The cost of the firemen’s pensions were also rising, which were never paid out by the city.

For Mayor Lori Blong, she sees fixing this problem as one of her top priorities during her tenure as mayor.

“This has been ignored by city council members and mayors for a long time. But it is really important to each of us as council members to solve for this,” said Mayor Blong. “We value our fire fighters. We need the job that they do for our community we want their families to feel supported and so we have to get this solved.”

Former Midland Fire Chief and current Midland Public Safety Manager Chuck Blumenauer gave his comments on the matter, seeing both sides of the issue.

“I’m 100% confident that from the city management side that we’ll get there and as a former firefighter I understand wanting to understand what your retirement is going to be and wanting to protect that,” said Blumenauer. “I also see that there is room to make changes on both sides that get us to that goal that are really unpainful for everybody.”

Although no definite plans were made for the future, both sides had an idea of what could possibly happen to solve this issue as well as seeing some progress made.

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