Welcome to the online home of "The Truth About Pensions," a web site devoted to cutting through all of the misinformation about the Jacksonville Police and Fire Pension Fund.

For several years now, a battle has been brewing between the City of Jacksonville and its Police and Fire Fighters over the money that has been accrued in the pension fund.

While some Jacksonville politicians have used the recession to scare the public into thinking the pension is in crisis, your emergency service workers have been sitting quietly, waiting to present the truth regarding the pension fund, how it has been poorly and improperly funded, and the steps the City of Jacksonville has taken to make sure its employees are underpaid compared to employees in the rest of the state.

This web site will take you through the history of the Jacksonville Police and Fire Pension Fund, starting in 1937 with the first piece of legislation creating the fund, as well as legislation passed in the 1980's to strengthen the fund, and ending with the 30 year settlement agreement reached between the City and the fund after years of mismanagement in the late 1990's.

The City of Jacksonville would have you believe that city employees are living a robust life at the expense of the Jacksonville tax payer. However, what some politicians want you to believe and the truth are far from one another.

TImes Union Inserts Their Opinion Into UNF's Facts

 

On March 5th, the Times Union released the results from a UNF poll and interjected their opinion in it, leading you to think it was factual data from the UNF poll.

  TU Editorial on UNF Poll- City Council Has Room For Improvement

  Actual UNF Poll- City Council Has Room For Improvement

 

As you will see, the UNF poll on the job of the City Council had no mention of Fire Fighter Pensions in it.  The Times Union has irresponsibly led the reader to believe that pensions were a part of the poll, when in fact it wasn't.

 

New Analysis of City's Finances

 

An analysis of the City of Jacksonville's finances based on the city's own Comprehensive Annual Financial Report

To read the entire report, click here

 

 

Leroy Collins Institute Report Debunked

 

Politicians love to refer to a flawed report on pensions from The Leroy Collins Institute.  This report from Foster and Foster debunks the agenda of the LCI.

To read the entire report, click here

 

PFPF Releases New Comprehensive Pension Reform Plan

 

As a  follow up to it's 2009 Pension Reform, which the city has still not responded to, the Jacksonville Police and Fire Pension Fund still strives for the healthiest pension fund possible with this new study, titled "CPR: Comprehensive Pension Reform."

To read the entire report, click here

 

Professional Actuaries: 80% Pension Funding Standard A Myth

In a recent study by The American Academy of Actuaries, real professional actuaries debunk the common politician myth that pensions funded below 80% are unhealthy. 

The report goes on to encourage the use of multiple factors and factual data as part of a broader criteria for judging the actual soundness of of a pension plan.

To read the entire report, click here.