DALLAS – An appeals court has affirmed the trial court's decision that changes made in 2017 to the Dallas Police Retired Officers Association's (DPROA) pension plan did not violate the Texas Constitution.
According to court documents, in a court case between the DPROA and the Dallas Police and Fire Pension System, DPROA challenged amendments made to its pension plan in 2017, asserting that they were unconstitutional. The amendments, referred to as the 2017 Amendments, specifically targeted the annual adjustment and monthly supplement provisions of the pension plan.
The annual adjustment previously granted an automatic annual 4% increase to retirement pensions. The 2017 Amendments tied the increase to the actual investment return of the pension system over a five-year period, limited the adjustment to a range of 0% to 4%, and imposed conditions related to the system's financial health. DPROA argued that the 4% annual increase constituted an accrued benefit protected by Section 66 of the Texas Constitution.
The monthly supplement, a payment given to pensioners aged 55 or older with at least 20 years of service, faced a more straightforward alteration. The 2017 Amendments eliminated this supplement for pensioners who were not already receiving it before September 1, 2017.
DPROA contended that these changes violated Section 66, which protects pensioners from reductions or impairments to accrued benefits. However, the Court of Appeals upheld the trial court's decision, asserting that the amendments, which were prospective and did not impact already-acquired benefits, did not violate the protected benefits outlined in Section 66 of the Texas Constitution. The court also affirmed the award of attorney's fees to the pension system.