A.G. Gancarski
Not every Jacksonville City Council member could make it to Monday’s public notice meeting where Councilman Bill Gulliford faced down the Police and Fire Pension Fund Board of Trustees Chairman Larry Schmitt. With that in mind, the PFPF (courtesy of hourly consultant John Keane) sent an email to the previous City Council group email list containing Schmitt’s statements from that get together.
The 5 page, single-spaced, “for immediate release” memo essentially distills Schmitt’s case onto paper, containing the entire opening statement, in which Schmitt said he had looked forward to the forensic audit, and indeed, was “optimistic,” since Gulliford had told him that “the political games are over.”
From the opening statement, Schmitt goes into questions for the auditor, such as whether there was evidence that would “identify any person from the pension fund who committed any criminal acts.”
If not, Schmitt advises against “unsupported allegations of criminal conduct.”
Schmitt also offers “transparency,” including the offer to copy every single page of every single document in the building.
As well, the memo reiterates issues with the methodology of the audit, specifically with regard to “conflict of interest at investment consulting firms,” of the sort that the auditor alleges cost the fund $300 to $500 million over the last twenty years.
The memo also talks about the similiarities between the PFPF and the other two city pension funds, including the same outside attorney and “some of the same core group of professional money managers.”
Strikingly, Schmitt also argues that the city’s other two pension funds aren’t appreciably stronger than the underfunded PFPF, saying that the higher investment assumption rate “masks the true unfunded liabilities” of city administered pension funds.
The unfunded liability is clearly a sticking point for the PFPF: the memo reiterates claims of correlation between the millage rate and the unfunded liability, which are consistent with what critics of the audit, such as John Delaney, have said.
The PFPF, in sending out this memo, has made a clear statement. An assertion that they are willing and able to countermessage the narrative of the forensic audit. The public sector unions in Jacksonville cannot be underestimated, and it is becoming increasingly clear: the Police and Fire Pension Fund is not going down without a fight.
