East Texas

By ADAM RUSSELL
Staff Writer

The cities of Bullard and Chandler hope to make changes this budget session to ensure city employees get back a little of what they put in during their service to the city.

The city of Chandler will introduce, for the first time, a Texas Municipal Retirement System package for its employees, City Manager Jim Moffeit said. The retirement program was approved to become part of the city's budget, along with employee raises, during Tuesday night's budget meeting.

Moffeit said becoming involved with TMRS is a big step for the city and an enormous commitment but also an investment in the city's future development. Joining the retirement system was long overdue, he said.

"It's a commitment. Cities have historically underpaid their employees, whether it's police or city staff, that's just the nature of the business," he said. "But when you are in a growth mode you've got to make the commitment to your employees, to retain your quality employees and to hire new employees in the future."

The city will initially offer a one-to-one match on 7.64 percent of the city's salaries to the fund at an expected cost of $35,693.40 to the city for its 15 employees.

All employees will pay 5 percent from their salaries. Each employee will be vested in the system by year five but can withdraw and leave with their own money at any time before that, Moffeit said.

Once employees are vested they can retire at the age of 60 or at any age after 20 years of service. Moffeit called the retirement package a "beginning," adding that, although the numbers are minimal, at least now there is something and something to grow on.

For Police Chief Ron Reeves and other city employees, the vote by council ended years of promises.

Reeves, who is working on 29 years as an officer in Chandler, has seen the promise of a retirement for years and said having one finally gives him a little relief. Until TMRS was instituted, Reeves and 15-year city secretary Shirley Parmer had no retirement to look forward to aside from collecting Social Security.

If the chief wanted to retire, he could in October when the plan takes effect, with his monthly check working out to around $1,150 for Reeves at this point, Moffeit said.

"Considering I've never had one and I have been here for 28 years, it's the best thing ever," Reeves said. "After 28 years of promises, 'We're gonna, we're gonna' we finally got it."

Bullard has had a TMRS plan for years. In fact they have had a plan much like Chandler's new one. The city has been paying one-to-one on 2.52 percent of salaries. City manager Larry Morgan said it is one of the worst in the state and that the city will be taking a giant step forward by improving it.

A two-to-one on 8.54 percent has been proposed within the new fiscal budget and is expected to pass, Morgan said. The change is expected to cost around $52,000, but Morgan and the council view it much like Chandler administrators, as an investment. He reaffirmed Moffeit's belief that it will help retain employees and lure quality employees in the future.

"It's a perk to the employees but it benefits the city for years," Morgan said.

That is especially important given Bullard's expected growth, he said. Chandler is expected to see much of the same.