The El Paso Firemen and Policemen’s Pension Fund ranked among Texas’ top-three pensions plans in a closely watched measure of average yearly returns over long-term investing horizons, according to the Texas Association of Public Employee Retirement Systems (TEXPERS) in a recently released report.
TEXPERS recognized the El Paso public safety employee pension for its 8.91 percent average yearly performance over the past 20 years in its annual "Report on the Asset Allocation and Investment Performance of Texas Public Employee Retirement Systems.”
TEXPERS Executive Director Max Patterson said, “The board and staff of the El Paso Firemen and Policemen’s Pension Fund have done an excellent job of focusing on long-term investment horizons, which is truly the key measure for pension performance. Their focus has helped ensure financial security for the families of El Paso public safety personnel in good and bad times, and has made the pension a trusted steward within the city and community.”
Tyler Grossman, board chairman of the El Paso Firemen and Policemen’s Pension Fund, said, “Our fund is financially strong and our investments have performed extremely well during the past two years. We continue to recover from the 2008 global financial collapse and are proud to be recognized by TEXPERS as a top-three fund in 20-year performance.”
Robert J. Stanton, executive director of the El Paso Firemen and Policemen’s Pension Fund, said, “Besides committing to achieving excellent investment returns for our members, we are further strengthening our fund management as well. We are pleased to report that the Texas Pension Review Board recently recognized our extremely low administration costs and that we are in good standing in all aspects of pension-governing state statute 6243b.”
In recent years, Grossman and Stanton said, the El Paso fund negotiated new contracts for custodial and benefit payments, saving millions in fees; developed its first plan document and pension administration system; initiated and renegotiated a security lending program to increase portfolio returns or offset portfolio expenses with a manageable level of risk; established bylaws, communications, indemnification, and disclosure policies; established a principles of fiduciary conduct and governance policy; and acquired an office building which will save the costs of escalating office lease expenses in El Paso.
