Garland, Texas – October 13, 2009 – The City of Garland has created a special committee to examine options for providing a benefit to Garland retirees that is similar to the Texas Municipal Retirement System’s Cost of Living Adjustment benefit with minimal financial impact to the City.
The TMRS Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) was eliminated in the 2008-09 Budget. In an effort to continue the evaluation of other options, City Manager Bill Dollar is establishing a City Employee TMRS COLA Study Committee to accomplish the following objectives:
Review previous TMRS, Finance, and actuarial consultant studies
Briefings by Finance/Budget staff on financial impacts of TMRS and proposed TMRS increases
Briefings on legal issues relating to state regulated retirement plan
Discussion on all questions/ideas/issues from Study Committee and other interested City employees
“We value our employees and want to take whatever steps we can to offer attractive retirement benefits,” says Mr. Dollar. “It’s important for us to explore every available option on behalf of current and future retirees.”
The Committee will meet for the first time on Wednesday, October 14 from 2-4 p.m. at Garland City Hall, 200 N. Fifth Street in the Council Work Session Room. The Committee will continue to meet every other Wednesday until all related issues are studied and resolved. The committee consists of 11 people including, Robby Neill (Human Resources), Sharon Rinewalt (Water & Sewer), Lt. Jeffrey Bryan (Police), Brad Neighbor (City Attorney), Thom Guillory (Engineering), Susan Webb (Environmental Waste), Jonas Whitehead (GP&L), Barry Swisher (Parks), Capt. Robert Smith (Fire), Ed Wilson (Retiree), and George Kaufmann (Financial Services).
Committee meetings will be televised on CGTV, the City's government access channel, at 6 a.m., Thursday through Sunday of meeting weeks. CGTV is available on Time Warner Cable channel 16 and on Verizon FIOS TV channel 44, or by video streaming from the City website at www.ci.garland.tx.us.
COLA Study Committee meetings will also be available via videostreaming video on demand under "Specialty Videos" approximately 48 hours after the meeting.