ST. LOUIS — St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones has vetoed legislation that would return pension board control to firefighter interests, her office said Friday.
Jones' spokesman said the measure had been consistently opposed by City Budget Director Paul Payne and Comptroller Darlene Green. Jones' predecessor, Lyda Krewson, vetoed similar legislation last year, a move Jones' spokesman said was "the fiscally responsible decision."
The move comes as the city has continued to lose residents, and though it has been allocated hundreds of millions of federal dollars, pensions represent a large budget outlay amid past reports that the government in the future faces an "underlying structural budget gap" as costs outpace "economically sensitive revenue trends."
"We must support our firefighters through the dangerous, challenging work they do, but rolling back hard-won reforms to our pension system, increasing the burden on taxpayers and diminishing local control is not the way to do so," said the spokesman, Nick Desideri.
St. Louis aldermen earlier this month passed the legislation from Alderman Tom Oldenburg, but without a veto-proof majority.
Under the bill, control of firefighter pensions would be returned to a board dominated by firefighter interests, with proponents claiming the move would save on administrative costs and put firefighters back in control of investment decisions.
Since 2013, employees with more than 20 years of service or who are retired have been covered under one plan, called FRS and governed by a board made up primarily by firefighter or fire union officials. A separate plan, FRP, covers new employees and those with fewer than 20 years of service as of 2013, and has been governed by a separate board led primarily by city officials.
Read more of the story on the St. Louis Business Journal website.
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