Fitch is a rating agency that attempts to tell bond investors the level of risk that they face when buying bonds.
They issued a report concerning the city’s bond offerings in 2016.
Among their observations:
Public safety pension contributions fell short of actuarially required contributions by approximately $6 million.
The $6 million dollar shortfall was for the 2015 fiscal year.
In other words the city paid less money into the police, fire, and employee pension funds than they should have.
We will get the bill later.
We deserve better
Brutus
elpasospeak 
There is more to the equation then that. The pension fund itself must also do it’s part to manage resources. Could they do better so taxpayers don’t have to shoulder any more responsibility than necessary?
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From a December 12, 2017, piece from KVIA:
“City of El Paso police officers and firefighters will soon be making more of an investment in their future.
City Council Tuesday unanimously approved an amendment increasing the annual active member contribution rate to the El Paso Firemen and Policemen’s pension fund.”
https://www.kvia.com/news/el-paso/el-paso-police-officers-firefighters-to-increase-pension-contributions/671834633
So things are changing. The first increased contributions take place this September. Let’s see if they’re enough.
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All of this, of course explains why El Paso is one of the worst cities in the country to work as Police Officer. Why other cities, departments can easily lure Officers away. Why there or few to no Police working the streets. The city politicians don’t want to pay them, fund retirements. They would rather WASTE taxpayer money on other useless, unnecessary “Stuff”. Trolley cars, Arenas, ball fields, sexy lighting on highways, various other POLITICIAN “wants, waste”. But they don’t want to pay Police, put Police on the streets. Tax, waste, spend, tax more.
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Actually based on the stock market performance since Trump took office and motivated a change in a lot of the policies that were holding back growth, pension funds and individual retirement accounts are seeing a level of return that has not been achieved since pre-9/11. Part of the reason pensions were being underfunded is that funding was based on an estimated return on the money invested. Stock market crashes and underperformance of investment funds in later years meant that those growth targets weren’t met and as a result cities and companies with retirement funds were being told to increase the amount contributed to make up the difference. The shortfall may have corrected itself by now, depending on how well the fund is managed. There is a lot to criticize Trump about, but his policies are driving growth that is putting money back into pension funds and retirement accounts at a really impressive rate. And the beneficiaries of that growth aren’t just rich fat cats–they are policeman, firemen and a lot of hard working Americans who would have had ugly surprises in retirement had the fiscal policies that were holding back growth remained in effect. There is a lot to criticize the city about, but the pension issue wasn’t their fault–it was hitting a lot of pension funds. Sadly, the city is still buying into the economic policies that have been killing growth in this country–big government, high debt, overspending, overtaxation and the idea that most folks are dumb and need to be led by a handful of visionaries who use public money to give us “what we deserve” and enrich their contractor friends/donors in the process.
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until the market bubble pops like it did in 2008
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