LAREDO, Texas (KGNS) – City of Laredo employees must work for decades to earn a pension. However, a 2019 ordinance allows council members and the mayor to earn a pension after only a four-year term.

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

“They are elected officials, but for TMRS purposes they can participate if they are created as a department, which we did through the budget, and also if the city certifies that they work 1,000 a year,” Nguyen said.

However, one complaint from Councilman Dr. Tyler King is the fact that he cannot opt ​​out without affecting everyone under 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 to tell us we couldn’t reverse that unless we wanted to take away the pension from all of our employees. . “Once it’s started, you can’t take it away from the people who were already in it.”

The mayor of the city of Laredo, Dr. Víctor Treviño, was one of the few who tried not to participate.

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

Nguyen explains that TMRS does not want those who signed up for the plan to come and go.

“Once you’re in, they can’t get you out. That’s simply federal retirement law; However, they can restrict the participation of future councilors and the mayor if the city certifies that they work less than 1,000 hours per year,” Nguyen added.

However, it remains to be seen whether the majority of the council would support it.

Currently, all members and the mayor are part of the pension plan.

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