Being a Council member during an economic downturn when city revenues are dropping or during a period when the growth has been minimal is a difficult time to serve. We're in both situations right now. We have had to close a library branch, remove two fire engines, and, more recently, cut city employee salaries. None of those were easy votes but we're elected to do the job, not put it off hoping some future council will solve it.   The hardest vote for me personally, the one I wanted to take back first opportunity, was eliminating the employee cost of living increase for retirees. I have followed the city's efforts since to somehow restore the COLA. We've had numerous initiatives only to see them fail because of some state or federal regulation.   During this year's budget discussions, a suggestion was made by a speaker to have a committee look at the challenge. I thought it was a great idea. So did City Manager Bill Dollar. He has formed such a committee and the announcement below shows that representatives from departments across the city will address the problem. I don't know that they will have any more success that we've had to date but more minds working on the problem can't hurt. For any shortcomings they uncover, employees and the Council will have a clearer understanding of the challenges and why.   I'm very encouraged by the aggressive schedule the committee will follow and especially encouraged that the meetings will be televised and accessible on the city's website. Anyone interested in following the deliberations will be able to do so, even if they've moved to England or Timbuktu.

COLA committee meetings will be broadcast on CGTV. Current and past meetings will be available online.

City of Garland Press Release:

Garland Studies Employee Retirement Benefits Options

The City of Garland has created a special committee to examine options for providing a benefit to Garland retirees that is similar to the Texas Municipal Retirement System’s Cost of Living Adjustment benefit with minimal financial impact to the City.
 
The TMRS Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) was eliminated in the 2008-09 Budget. In an effort to continue the evaluation of other options, City Manager Bill Dollar is establishing a City Employee TMRS COLA Study Committee to accomplish the following objectives:

• Review previous TMRS, Finance, and actuarial consultant studies
• Briefings by Finance/Budget staff on financial impacts of TMRS and proposed TMRS increases
• Briefings on legal issues relating to state regulated retirement plan
• Discussion on all questions/ideas/issues from Study Committee and other interested City employees

"We value our employees and want to take whatever steps we can to offer attractive retirement benefits," says Mr. Dollar. "It’s important for us to explore every available option on behalf of current and future retirees."
 
The Committee will meet for the first time on Wednesday, October 14 from 2-4 p.m. at Garland City Hall, 200 N. Fifth Street in the Council Work Session Room. The Committee will continue to meet every other Wednesday until all related issues are studied and resolved. The committee consists of 11 people including, Robby Neill (Human Resources), Sharon Rinewalt (Water & Sewer), Lt. Jeffrey Bryan (Police), Brad Neighbor (City Attorney), Thom Guillory (Engineering), Susan Webb (Environmental Waste), Jonas Whitehead (GP&L), Barry Swisher (Parks), Capt. Robert Smith (Fire), Ed Wilson (Retiree), and George Kaufmann (Financial Services).
 
Committee meetings will be televised on CGTV, the City's government access channel, at 6 a.m., Thursday through Sunday of meeting weeks. CGTV is available on Time Warner Cable channel 16 and on Verizon FIOS TV channel 44, or by video streaming from the City website at www.ci.garland.tx.us.
 
COLA Study Committee meetings will also be available via videostreaming video on demand under "Specialty Videos" approximately 48 hours after the meeting.