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El Paso retirement trust previews FY2025–26 budget; board to adopt next month
Summary
Staff presented a proposed FY2025–26 budget that increases reported annual expenses by 9.4% due mainly to the decision to include investment fees and several operational items previously omitted from the line‑item budget. Trustees provided feedback and will vote on adoption in August.
Staff presented a draft fiscal year 2025–26 budget to the City of El Paso Employees Retirement Trust on July 16 and asked trustees to review the proposal before a planned adoption vote next month.
The proposal, as presented, shows a total budget of roughly $101.36 million and a 9.4% increase over the prior year’s published budget. Staff said the increase is primarily the result of a change in presentation: several expense categories that historically were paid or netted outside of the annual operating budget will now be included up front. Those items include investment management fees (shown as approximately $4.3 million in the draft), custodial fees, legal and actuarial contract costs, audit fees and other operational items that appear on monthly agendas or financial statements but were not previously included in the annual budget line items.
Staff also proposed increasing the retiree payroll estimate by about $3.5 million (a 4.1% increase) to reflect recent monthly benefit payment trends; trustees were shown year‑to‑date retiree payroll totals (about $69 million through June) and told the monthly retiree payroll crossed $7 million in recent months.
Staff said salary and benefits increases reflect an assumed merit pool (staff referenced a 3.5% merit guideline and noted the board will see updated CPI and actuarial costs before adoption). Trustees asked for a clearer comparison to prior‑year actuals for each line item and staff agreed to provide last year’s actuals alongside the proposed numbers in the August adoption packet. Trustees also discussed the tradeoffs of providing the director and staff with adequate budget authority versus micromanaging small invoice approvals; staff and trustees agreed the monthly treasurer’s report will continue to show budget‑to‑actual comparisons.
No adoption vote was taken; trustees directed staff to return with the updated budget (including prior‑year actuals and any CPI/actuarial updates) and scheduled formal adoption for the next meeting at the end of the fiscal year.
