due course. This council is not going to play the ranting and raving game, but instead do the people’s work and make the tough decisions. But by no means are we going to pass important reform such as this just to be able to tout that we did pension reform in Atlanta.
”We plan to adopt reform that is fiscally prudent, legally defensible and functionally sustainable not just for the next four years, but for decades to come,” Mitchell added.
When the original reform options were introduced in April, the City Council commenced a rigorous schedule of pension reform work sessions.
Recently, the City Council received a presentation from a representative from the Georgia Area Office of the Social Security Administration on Proposed Option 2.
Councilmembers have also met with and conducted work sessions with representatives from the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME); the Southern States Police Benevolent Association Inc. (PBA) on possible changes to the General Employees Pension Plan as well as with representatives from the Atlanta Professional Fire Fighters’ Association and International Brotherhood of Police Officers Local 623 regarding possible changes to the city firefighter’s and police officer’s pension plans.
By vetting all options, councilmembers want to achieve several goals: approve a legally sound pension plan; reduce the city’s unfunded liability in accordance with fiscally prudent, yet realistic, best practices; establish annual cost reductions, expense predictability and general fiscal; stability within the pension plans; and institute achievable and sustainable reform outcomes (i.e., annual cost reduction, competitive employee compensation, legality, financial solvency, and reduction in unfunded liability, etc.) for the employee retirement program.
A vote on pension reform could come as early as July.
The council remaining pension deliberation schedule is from June 2 through July 18. On Aug. 15 and 22, the full City Council will consider pension legislation where ready and conduct public hearings; on Aug. 31, the City Council will consider remaining pension reform legislation pending before the Finance Committee and on Sept. 6, the council will provide a final vote on all pension legislation by the full council as necessary.
For more information visit https://citycouncil.atlantaga.gov/pensionresources.htm.
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