LAREDO, Texas (KGNS) – City of Laredo employees are having to work decades to get a pension. But a 2019 ordinance allows council members and the mayor to receive pensions only after a four-year term.

City Attorney Zone Nguyen said council members should be reclassified to meet Texas Municipal Retirement System (TMRS) standards.

“These are elected officials, they can only join if they are created as a department for TMRS purposes, which we did through the budget, and also if the city certifies that they employ 1,000 people a year,” Nguyen said.

However, Council Member Dr. Tyler King’s complaint is that he cannot choose to withdraw without affecting everyone else covered by the plan.

King noted: “We were with the mayor trying to get rid of the pension, and then they brought in lawyers from the Texas Municipal League and told us we couldn’t reverse it unless we wanted to take the pension away from all our employees. Once you start, you can’t take it away from the people who are already in it.” .”

City of Laredo Mayor Dr. Victor Trevino was one of the few people who tried to reverse this decision.

Trevino added, “Retirement is available for people who have been working for 20, 30 years. Our situation is quite different, councilors only work or are elected for a short period of time. Five years and you are entitled to a pension. “To me, that’s something I don’t agree with.”

Nguyen explains that TMRS does not want plan signatories to come in and out.

“Once you’re in, you can’t be taken out. It’s just federal retirement law; However, if the city certifies that these individuals work less than 1,000 hours per year, they may restrict future council members and the mayor from attending this meeting,” Nguyen added.

But time will tell whether the majority of the council will support this.

Currently all members and the mayor are part of the retirement plan.

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