January 29, 2021
Hello DPROA,
As you may have heard from some of our local news outlets, Mayor Eric Johnson has appointed a group to study ways to improve the funding of the Dallas Police & Fire Pension System. We heard this was a possibility several months back and have been awaiting this news. It is certainly encouraging to see the Mayor’s demonstration of concern for our system and his willingness to take action. Let me assure you that the DPROA will continue to work with our pension trustees in any effort to strengthen our funding status, but we also stand at the ready to resist any attempts to strip more benefits from our members. We will be closely following the progress of this group and report to you on any new developments.
I know many of you were surprised to learn that last year when you used PayPal to pay your dues, you also signed up for auto renewal. As a result some of you have used another method of payment this year, only to learn later that an automatic renewal was charged to your credit card. For those who have not yet submitted another form of payment, we will accept your PayPal payment this year. This time next year our PayPal account will be closed and this cannot happen again. If you are paying dues by check, please be patient as it takes a while for Crista to pick up the mail, process the checks for deposit, enter your payment in our books, and get the checks to the bank. If you have any other issues with payment you can email [email protected].
Several months back Kelly Gottschalk presented a proposal to the DP&FP Board of Trustees to explore the possibility of moving the DP&FP Staff to the Texas Municipal Retirement System. In her proposal she said this was necessary because staff does not have Social Security or any other form of guaranteed annuity. They have a Defined Contribution Plan where they pay in 6.5% and the DP&FP pays 12%. The employee chooses their investments and if they do well, they are fine, but there is no guaranteed annuity. Kelly recounted in her history of the issue that three times in the past attempts were made to move them into our plan, but each time it was voted down by the membership. She said for that reason they did not want to join our plan, but instead they would like to start the process to join the TMRS. It was my opinion, if they want to join a defined benefit plan with a guaranteed annuity, it should be the DP&FP. The result would be more members paying into the plan at the same rate as active members, and receiving the same benefits with the same restrictions as our current members. It would also show all interested parties that we are all in the same boat as we work towards improving the funding status of our plan. I discussed this issue with our board and they authorized me make a statement to the DP&FP Board of Trustees at the January meeting. Go to https://www.dpfp.org/, click on Board and drop down to Meeting Minutes. Choose teleconference 1 to hear my statement at the front end of the meeting. There was glitch when the chairman first called for speakers, but he did stop and allow me to speak shortly after his opening report.
David Elliston
President, Dallas Police Retired Officers Association
Annual Adjustment Participants:
For members participating in the Annual Adjustment/Benefit Supplement lawsuit, we were scheduled to depose the Corporate Representative of the Texas Pension Review Board at 2:00 p.m. on January 28th. The Assistant Attorney General representing the PRB notified our attorney just moments prior to time to start the deposition that they would not be able to provide all of the documents requested prior to the start of the deposition. As a result the deposition was rescheduled for February 8, 2021, at 1:00 p.m. It is crucial for our attorney to have adequate time to review these documents prior to questioning the witness. Director Boux Bland and I were in Houston to serve as resources for our attorney during the deposition and we will return on February 8th. I will keep you posted on any new developments.