ST. LOUIS — Mayor Tishaura O. Jones will again oppose an attempt to reverse firefighter pension changes, adopted years ago to rein in runaway costs.
Citing the same reasoning she used when she vetoed the last plan, Jones said legislation pending at the Board of Aldermen will ultimately come back to bite the city in the budget.
“I understand the desire to support our first responders,†Jones wrote in a letter Tuesday. “However, it is important that alderpersons understand that some of the proposed changes in Board Bill 146 would jeopardize the City’s budget and its ability to carry out municipal services and invest in critical infrastructure in the future.â€
The thrust of the bill, sponsored by Alderman Bret Narayan, of Dogtown, would return supervision of all fire department pensions to a board dominated by firefighters. The board would not be able to increase benefits without aldermanic assent and actuarial cost studies. But it would be in charge of hiring the actuaries, and could take a more aggressive stance in pushing for new benefits.
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The bill, which cleared committee earlier this month, marks firefighters’ latest attempt to claw back some of what they lost after the Great Recession, when stock losses sent pension costs soaring and city officials said they couldn’t afford them anymore.
Officials then fought the union for months and eventually passed a suite of changes, including the minimum retirement age and a new oversight board led by City Hall appointees. Firefighters never fully accepted the changes, and allies at the board have spent the past few years trying to ratchet them back.
They have already been denied twice.
Aldermen twice approved plans to have the old firefighter-majority board, which still administers benefits earned prior to the cuts, govern both systems.
Former Mayor Lyda Krewson vetoed one plan in 2021, and Jones vetoed another in late 2022, saying the change would undermine the reforms and ultimately lead to increased costs for taxpayers.