However, some former city employees said they haven’t received their payments yet, despite being told their checks would arrive 30 to 60 days after May 1, according to the mayor’s executive order.
What’s happening?
Council member Edward Pollard told Community Impact a few days before the Aug. 20 City Council meeting that he received calls from a former city employee who accepted the retirement incentive, but hasn’t received her pension after the promised 30 to 60 days.
“She said to date [Aug. 20], they still have not received their payments,” Pollard said. “I just believe that as a city, if we make a promise to our employees, there has to be an expectation that we will follow through on whatever that promise was.”
When Pollard asked Whitmire during the Aug. 20 City Council meeting about the holdup, Whitmire said part of the issue was that the Houston Municipal Employees Pension System, which is responsible for retirement benefits for city of Houston employees and operates independently from the city, has “a lack of staffing and a lack of urgency by the board.”
Community Impact reached out to the Houston Municipal Employees Pension System for comment, but did not hear back by press time.
However, Whitmire said 500 retirement payments are expected to roll out this week, with 300 payments sent out last week and 200 to be sent out this week, from Aug. 25 to 31.
“All of that should have been logistically coordinated at the very beginning,” Pollard said. “All of the parameters should have been put in place to ensure that there was enough capacity, personnel and resources necessary to process those payments within 30 to 60 days.”
Steven David, the mayor’s chief strategy and operations officer, said in an Aug. 13 post on X, formerly known as Twitter, that the mayor’s office met with the pension system multiple times and offered “unfettered help.”
“They told us they had it under control and needed nothing,” David wrote. “We started beating down their doors today. It will be resolved quickly.”
The background
In March, the mayor’s office sent out a letter offering the voluntary retirement incentive to help cut a $330 million budget shortfall the city was facing at the time, according to previous Community Impact reporting. Of the 3,047 eligible employees, 1,070 employees accepted Whitmire’s voluntary retirement program that offered both financial support and continued access to health care benefits.
Houston Public Works had the most employees accept the retirement offer, with 342 of 977 eligible employees leaving. The Houston Police Department had 109 of its 329 eligible employees accept the offer.
