Jacksonville City Council Unanimously Approves Audit of Police and Fire Pension

The Jacksonville City Council voted on Tuesday to launch an audit of the city’s Police and Fire Pension Fund.

Edward Siedle – who Institutional Investor named last year as one of the 40 most influential people in the U.S. pension sphere – will be conducting the audit.

From the Florida Times-Union:

Siedle anticipates the audit will take about three months and will be about 100 pages.

Siedle, who was an attorney with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, has done deep dives into pension funds that collectively have more than a trillion dollars in assets under management.

[…]

Before Tuesday, all calls for a deep dive into the fund have gone nowhere.

Councilman Bill Gulliford led the charge by filing the legislation to hire Siedle in March after he went to South Florida and met with him.

Following that meeting, Gulliford told the Times-Union that Siedle is probably one of the most experienced and capable people to do the job in Jacksonville.

“As city officials, we owe it to the people of Jacksonville to ensure transparency and to provide an accounting of every dollar. This investigation is long overdue. No one should object to it if there is nothing to hide,” said Council President Clay Yarborough in an emailed statement following the vote Tuesday.

A large portion of the audit will likely focus on whether the pension fund is skirting city code with its administration of its Deferred Retirement Option Program (DROP).

Read more about the audit, and why the council feels it is necessary, here.

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