The board that runs retirement for more than 940 Texas cities meets Sept. 24 to settle what, if anything, it will ask the Legislature for in 2027. The question is sharpened by a cost-of-living option that expired Dec. 31 and has not been replaced.
For two years, cities in the Texas Municipal Retirement System could give retirees a raise calculated only from the point the raise was adopted forward, instead of reaching back across a retiree’s whole time on the rolls. The cheaper version was temporary. A 2025 bill to make it permanent, packaged with five other changes the system had vetted with its stakeholder committee, passed the House and died in the Senate without a hearing. Since January, a city that wants to give retirees a raise has only the more expensive option.
The system’s executive director told trustees in March that staff saw no critical need for 2027 legislation, but that the board should decide early if it wants anything. The board voted unanimously to send its 2025 proposals back to the stakeholder committee — a standing panel of city managers, human-resources directors, police and firefighter union representatives, the Texas Municipal League and three individual members — for another look. Sept. 24 is when that review comes back. Bill filing for the 2027 session opens Nov. 9.
The system is in no financial distress. It held $49.4 billion at the end of 2025, returned 13.75 percent for the year against an assumed 6.75, and was 90.4 percent funded, up a point from 2024. It covers 265,066 people and paid out $2.2 billion in benefits last year. What has churned is the leadership: Debbie Muñoz became the first woman to run the system in July 2025, most of the executive team is new, and a sixth trustee seat has sat empty since the end of April, when the city manager of Kyle left for a job in Arizona. The board votes Sept. 24 on Muñoz’s compensation.
Also up: amendments to the investment policy, a change to this year’s capital budget with a resolution moving the money, renewal of the contract with the system’s custodian bank, and a board education session on the actuarial assumptions that drive every number above. Personnel and investment items can go behind closed doors.
Meeting at a glance
- When
- 9 a.m. CT Thursday, September 24, 2026. The notice, TRD 2026005515, was filed September 15 at 2:54 p.m.
- Where
- Texas Municipal Retirement System offices, 2717 Perseverance Drive, Suite 300, Austin, open to the public, with a Zoom link in the notice. At least one trustee attends in person.
- Governing body & chair
- Texas Municipal Retirement System board of trustees — six seats the governor fills with Senate consent, for six-year terms. Jim Parrish is chair; one seat has been vacant since April 30.
- Format
- Regular quarterly meeting, twenty numbered items including a consent agenda and one closed session. The agenda lists no general public comment item.
- Live video
- Zoom link for the public in the notice. The system keeps no public video archive; agendas with materials and signed minutes are the record.
- Full agenda
- Secretary of State Open Meeting Viewer · TMRS board of trustees page
Board members
- Jim Parrish — chair; Anna; human resources director, City of McKinney.
- Tommy Gonzalez — vice chair; Midland; city manager, City of Midland.
- Isaac Tawil — McAllen; city manager, City of McAllen.
- Jaime Reyes II — Melissa; assistant fire chief, City of Plano.
- Pamela Williams — Hawley; human resources director, City of Abilene.
- Vacant — sixth seat, open since April 30, 2026.
Roster from the system’s board page, checked September 16, cross-checked against the governor’s appointment releases and the system’s 2025 annual report, which records the December 2025 election of Parrish as chair and Gonzalez as vice chair. Three trustees must be city executives and three other city employees; the system does not publish which seat is which. The vacancy follows Bryan Langley’s resignation effective April 30, 2026, reported to the board in a June 15 memo. Kristyn Scoggins, named on the agenda, is the system’s internal audit director, not a trustee. Minutes of the June 25 meeting are not posted, so committee assignments made that day are unconfirmed. Meeting contact: Debbie J. Muñoz, executive director, (512) 476-7577.