Dallas (WBAP/KLIF News) – Mediation has failed in the attempt to keep the pension fund for Dallas police and firefighters solvent. Without action, the fund could run out of money within ten years.
Thursday, Mayor Mike Rawlings went to Austin to meet with the Pension Review Board.
“There’s only a certain amount of money going around,” Rawlings said in an interview before leaving for Austin. “One plan they had thrown was going to take a billion extra dollars. To do that, we would have to cut city services by over 50 percent.”
Rawlings says the city would have to cut funding for libraries, parks and senior centers to provide the pension with another $1 billion.
Rawlings told the review board the two sides were near an agreement earlier this week. He says they had agreed to a basic plan but could not agree on a back-up plan.
The Dallas Police Association says the city “abruptly” ended negotiations with the mediator.
“Just six months after we lost officers in that ambush, City Hall has shown us that our services, our sacrifices and our bravery are not important,” says DPA President Michael Mata.
Mata says one of the city’s negotiators demanded to get his “pound of flesh” from police and firefighters.
“It has become painfully clear that these negotiations were nothing more than a stalling tactic until our pension was near insolvency,” he says.
Without action, the pension could run out of money within ten years.
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