Still no money for Prichard pensioners

City given two months to figure out payments
Libby Amos

Fox10tv.com
Mar. 17, 2010

PRICHARD, Ala. (WALA) - A bankruptcy court judge has given the City of Prichard two more months to figure out how they will pay retired city workers. Prichard pensioners have gone six months without a pension check.

Prichard is operating under the protection of Title IX Bankruptcy, and for many people, that means no promised pension payments.

After six months with no pay, Prichard pensioners put their faith into the courts. They hoped a judge would force the city to pay some, if not all, of the pension money it owes. However, the bankruptcy court judge said the city is not obligated to pay the retired workers just yet. The judge gave the city two more months to restructure the budget and present it to the courts.

The city got more time, but unfortunately reality has already set in for Bobby Holifield and his family.

"You can't begin to know the stress of this. My daughter is in college right now, my son just graduated from high school, he wanted to go to college. My daughter had to miss last semester in college and she will have to miss this semester. I can't afford to pay it. My son wants to go to technical school; I can't afford to pay for it. It makes me feel like a failure more than anything, when I did my part. I worked 32 years to get my pension. They owe it to me, it's not something I'm asking them to give me," Holifield said.

Prichard's attorney Scott Williams said the city is working diligently to fix the budget and figure out how it will pay the bills.

"We still have a lot of work to do. The city is busy working on a lot of the budgeting issues about what is realistic, and what they can do on a going forth basis," Williams said.

There are roughly 150 pensioners who are going without their payments. At this point, Robert Maybry and his wife want whatever the city can give.

"I would just like for them to be fair with us, if you can do, something do it! I know finances are short and revenue is down, but that is really not our problem. Finances are bad all over the country, not just here in Mobile," Maybry explained.

Maybry said the city is hiding behind Title IX and he wants elected officials to start giving answers.

"I've been reading up on this Chapter IX. That thing has got teeth worst than a white shark in the Gulf when it comes to protecting the city. Once they get under that, we are at their discretion. They won't tell you nothing. They won't talk to you," he added.

Prichard Mayor Ronald Davis and other city officials declined to comment on the pension issue, leaving their attorney to answer to the press.














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