MEMPHIS, August 18, 2026 - The Memphis City Council's Personnel, Government Affairs and Annexations Committee sent an ordinance amending the city pension system to the floor with a favorable recommendation after an exchange lasting about a minute.
The presenter told the committee the item is a continuation of a matter that came before the Council in July, and that this version expands the group it applies to. She described the addition as public safety heroes and 911 communicators, and said what the Council passed the previous month covered commissioned personnel while this adds that additional group for the same reasons: to attract and retain.
Asked whether a dollar amount is associated with the change, she said the amount is $210,000, then clarified that the actuarial accrued liability is $973,000 and the contribution is $210,000 for the next thirty years, coming out of what she called the 245 fund. The chairwoman confirmed that, asked whether members had questions, and moved to a vote. The committee approved it with a favorable recommendation.
What the ordinance changes
The filed summary sheet states the amendment does two things for police dispatchers, fire alarm operators and paramedics.
First, it increases the accrued benefit percentage pension multiplier for years of credited service after January 1, 1990, from 2.25 percent to 2.50 percent, for those retiring on or after July 1, 2026.
Second, it removes the Early Retirement Reduction Factor, which imposes a 5 percent reduction in benefit for each year of retirement before age 62.
The accompanying summary of the proposed ordinance amendment, dated August 11, 2026, sets out the sequence. On July 21, 2026, effective July 1, 2026, the Council adopted an amendment raising the same multiplier for commissioned police officers and firefighters. The current amendment extends that increase to police dispatchers, fire dispatchers, fire alarm operators and paramedics employed in the Fire Department. The same July 21 meeting deleted the 5 percent reduction for commissioned officers and firefighters retiring at twenty-five years but before age 52; this amendment deletes it for dispatchers, alarm operators and paramedics retiring at twenty-five years but before age 62.
Where the money comes from, and what happens if it runs short
The ordinance text is specific about the funding source and includes an automatic adjustment if the source cannot cover the cost.
It states that as required by state law and the Comptroller of the State of Tennessee, the increase is to be funded by and only to the extent of available funds allocated for the cost of pension benefits of police officers and firefighters in the Special Revenue Fund created pursuant to the referendum passed October 3, 2019, which increased the sales and use tax in the City of Memphis by 0.5 percent, from 2.25 percent to 2.75 percent, to restore pension benefits of public safety employees.
If the cost of the increase exceeds the amount allocated in that fund for these employees in the 1978 Plan, the ordinance provides that the 2.50 percent accrual rate will be reduced automatically in ten basis point increments, to a rate no lower than the pre-existing rate, until the cost fits inside the allocation. The adjustment takes effect the July 1 following the determination, and it cannot reduce a benefit already accrued before the adjustment date.
That provision means the benefit as written is conditional on the performance of a dedicated tax fund, and it steps itself down without further Council action.
What happens next
The committee sent the ordinance to the floor with a favorable recommendation. As a general ordinance amending Chapter 25 of the city code, it requires the Council's ordinance readings before adoption. The filed text takes effect after passage, signature by the Chair, certification and delivery to the Office of the Mayor. No adoption date was set on the record.
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