HELP, THERE IS A ROBBERY IN PROGRESS IN MEMPHIS AT THE PENSION BOARD

Those of you who wanted to see the end of the long running term of Mayor Herenton probably did not count on Herenton's crony friends holding up the pension system when he left.

Now that our Mayor is getting a City of Memphis pension and a School System pension when he retires, he is going for the BIG BANANA in Washington to add Federal Perks to his haul. And the worst of it all is that it is legal.

For those of you who are not aware of the terms of our pension system, I have shown below a brief resume from the City of Memphis CAFR (Comprehensive Annual Financial Report) and the City of Memphis Retirement System showing the details of the system. Some important points are

• The City of Memphis Retirement System is administered by a Board of Administration under the direction of the Mayor. Separate financial statement for the plan are not issued.
  
• The assets of the plan are down 33% from July 1, 2008 to March 31, 2009.
  
• As of June 30, 2008 there were 4070 retirees receiving benefits or entitled to receive them
  
• There were 3056 active employees fully vested and 3165 non vested.
  
• Generally employees may retire after 25 years of service regardless of age.
  
• Those appointed people may retire after 12 years of service regardless of age due to the disastrous January 2001 pension resolution which Tom Marshall said would help the City get and retain good people.
  
• ONE SIGNIFICANT PART OF THE PENSION SYSTEM IS THAT THE PENSION IS BASED ON A PERCENTAGE (2-1/4% OR 2-1/2%) OF AVERAGE MONTHLY COMPENSATION. THE DEFINITION OF AVERAGE MONTHLY COMPENSATION IS AS FOLLOWS. "THE HIGHEST AVERAGE MONTHLY COMPENSATION RECEIVED FOR ANY FIVE CONSECUTIVE YEARS OF SERVICE, OR THE MOST RECENT YEAR'S EARNING, IF GREATER".
  

Now do you see why Willie put his cronies in these high paying jobs last year? So they could increase their pension payout.

Also I have attached a list of employees and salaries from a 2005 open records request listed by top to bottom salary. Those with NO in a column are appointed employees. These salaries are up 5 to 7% from 2005.

 

 

Click here to see a 2005 list of appointed employees listed by salary many of whom will be retiring and start receiving their pensions

Click here to see the terms of the pension plan which is run by the Mayor and his cronies and which allows the pension to be increased after only one year at a new higher salary