Retired state workers deserve a 13th pension check like ex-teachers are receiving

By Lt. Richard Jankovsky III, Special to the Katy Times
Posted 5/25/23

Retired state employees have not seen an increase in their monthly pensions since 2001—Rick Perry’s first year as governor—and have come together at the Capitol this month to call for action.

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

Log in

Retired state workers deserve a 13th pension check like ex-teachers are receiving

Posted

Retired state employees have not seen an increase in their monthly pensions since 2001—Rick Perry’s first year as governor—and have come together at the Capitol this month to call for action.

State workers dedicated our careers to protecting public safety and serving Texas in many other ways. But too many of the people I served with are now struggling to make ends meet—or working extra jobs just to support themselves.

They live in every county and legislative district. They built the infrastructure that allowed Texas to grow and prosper. And they need help.

My organization, the Department of Public Safety Officers Association, is one of eight employee and retiree organizations that sent a letter to the state’s top budget writers and gathered at the Capitol on May 3 to urge them to use a small part of the state’s historic $33 billion surplus for a pension increase. The organizations represent thousands of the 122,000 retired state workers and their beneficiaries who receive pensions through the Employees Retirement System (ERS).

The groups are asking the Legislature for a 13th pension check for ERS retirees this year, similar to the extra check that retired Texas teachers have received in each of the past two state budgets and are expected to receive again.

A “13th-month check” is a one-time payment that would help retirees ease the burden of inflation and help pay for food, gas, housing, and medicine. In the long term, the retiree groups are seeking the first cost of living adjustment in 22 years, similar to what retired teachers will receive this year.

“We are deeply concerned that the budget does not include any immediate relief for retired State of Texas employees,” retired game warden Larry Young of the Texas Game Warden Peace Officers Association said. “For years, a secure retirement has been vital to keeping good workers providing essential services to the citizens of Texas.”

Providing a one-time supplemental 13th check for all ERS retirees would cost only $250 million in the proposed $308 billion budget and could be distributed within months without negatively affecting ERS’s financial soundness.

“I started working for the State of Texas two days after I graduated high school and continued for more than 30 years after I earned my degree at Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches,” John “Dan” Maxwell, president of the statewide retirees’ chapter of the Texas Public Employees Association, said. “My co-workers and I made less than we could have in other jobs because we loved serving Texas. We always thought we would have stability when we retired.”

Workers who retired in 2001, the year of the last benefit enhancement, today receive an average pension of less than $18,000 a year.

“In my 24 years in state government, I saw that my work impacted thousands of Texans, and I was proud to be a state worker,” Sandy Smith of San Antonio, a board member of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), Texas Retirees, said. “When I retired in 2010, it had already been almost a decade since the Legislature had increased pensions for retirees. I never dreamed we would be here nearly a decade-and-a-half later, still with no help.”

The other organizations advocating for a 13th check include Texas State Troopers Association, AFSCME Texas Correctional Employees Council, Retired State Employees Association, and the Texas State Employees Union.

Jankovsky is president of the Department of Public Safety Officers Association.