Fort Bend County dedicates nearly $20M to retiree trust fund
Published: Wed, 06/14/23
Fort Bend County dedicates nearly $20M to retiree trust fund
Commissioners approved the deposit to partially fund its $495 million liability for retiree health care.
(Asia Armour/Community Impact)
Community Impact
By Asia Armour
Updated
To partially fund its $495 million liability for retiree health care, Fort Bend County commissioners approved a $19.94 million deposit into the other post-employment benefit, or OPEB, trust fund.
In a nutshell
On June 13, commissioners voted unanimously to make the $19.94 million deposit, moving the surplus from its general fund to the OPEB trust fund through its employee benefits budget.
The OPEB trust, which was established in January, now holds $25.54 million toward the county’s post-employment benefits.
The backstory
Attention turned to the outstanding OPEB debt in the first quarter of this year, while commissioners discussed the possibility of a November mobility and parks bond as well as a short-term housing solution for residents who are at risk of homelessness.
County Auditor Ed Sturdivant proposed in March to aggressively confront the debt by shifting every excess dollar in the budget to the OPEB trust, originally anticipating a surplus by October.
Quote of note
“We have to demonstrate to the public, to our retirees, our employees working toward retirement, our bond rating agencies [and] our underwriting team that we are not just ... waiting for this to go away,” Sturdivant told Community Impact in March.