Amid severe staffing shortages at the Dallas Police Department, the city’s police officers and emergency responders are still feeling the effects of past pension reforms, KERA News reports.
“A risky investment from seven years ago appears to still be hurting the Dallas police and fire pension system. As the deadline approaches to submit a plan to eliminate billions of dollars in unfunded liabilities, city contractors say now is the time to make better investment decisions.”
“Dorie Wiley is president and CEO of Commerce Street Investment Management and was involved in the initial analysis of the Dallas Police and Fire Pension System’s investments. Wiley told the city’s special pension committee that the fund’s investment performance was below average compared to other systems in Texas.”
“Wiley presented a chart of 33 Texas retirement funds, including Dallas’ sworn and non-sworn systems, with the Dallas Public Safety Fund ranking last in the entire state in net returns over a 10-year period.”
“‘The bottom two are Dallas Police and Fire,’ Wiley told the commission at Thursday’s meeting. ‘One is private property and the other is [without] It is personal property.
“Wiley said the Public Safety Fund is performing well on its public equity, or stock, investments. As of June 2023, the fund has earned more than 8 percent, a higher figure than comparable cities, according to Wiley’s presentation.”
“But having said that, when you look at private equity, you see underperformance there,” Wylie said. “Part of that is legacy assets. They’ve been dealing with legacy assets for the last seven years, and I know they’re still dealing with them.”
“These legacy assets include the real estate investments that got the pension fund into its current situation. Last year, these assets returned just over 4 percent, compared with 17 percent for other similarly sized funds in Houston and Texas.”
To read the full story on KERA News, click here.
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