Firefighters’ Retirement System claims City of Shreveport owes them $3.7M

SHREVEPORT, La. (KSLA) - According to the Firefighters’ Retirement System (FRS), the City of Shreveport owes them $3.7 million.

FRS sent a letter to Mayor Adrian Perkins on Friday, Nov. 4, warning that the city will start owing interest and that firefighters’ retirement benefits could get slashed if the money isn’t paid by Nov. 19.

Under Louisiana law, the city is supposed to deduct retirement funds from firefighters’ wages each pay period and then send that money to the retirement system in Baton Rouge. However, according to the letter obtained by KSLA – the city has allegedly fallen behind on its mandatory contributions – despite firefighters’ checks being docked for retirement funds.

[RELATED: Shreveport Police Pension Fund Board says city owes them $1.3M]

On Thursday, Nov. 4, the Shreveport Police Pension Board claimed the city owes them $1.3 million in missed retirement contributions.

KSLA reached out to mayor’s office for comment about the city allegedly owing the FRS over $3 million. The city issued a statement Monday, Nov. 7:.

“The City of Shreveport started the process to make the required payments for August and September several weeks ago. Once it was brought to our attention that the submission process was not completed, we immediately took the necessary steps to make the appropriate payment today. The October payment isn’t due until next week and today’s payment will make the City’s account current with the Firefighters Retirement System.”

And in response, Local 514 President Barbara Sellers issued the following statement:

“We have conferred back with our FRS representative, and it has been confirmed that FRS has received August and September payments through the regular process. Our representative stated this was just recently verified by staff.”

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