# Weslaco Firemen's Relief & Retirement Fund Weslaco Firemen's Relief & Retirement Fund is a Pension Fund based in Weslaco, United States. ## Overview - **Organization type:** Pension Fund - **Headquarters:** Weslaco, United States - **Region:** North America - **Address:** Weslaco, TX, United States - **Assets under management:** $10M–$50M (Altss estimate) - **Website:** weslacofdpension.com ## Regulatory record - **Reports private funds:** No ## About The Weslaco Firemen's Relief & Retirement Fund was established to provide retirement, death, and disability benefits exclusively for the firefighters of the City of Weslaco, Texas. As a single-employer defined-benefit plan, the fund serves a closed constituency of municipal first responders — a structure common across Texas cities but distinct from the larger statewide systems that pool multiple agencies. The City of Weslaco acts as the sponsoring entity, and the fund operates under the regulatory oversight of the Texas Pension Review Board. The board of trustees mixes mayoral and CFO designees, citizen appointees, and active member representatives elected by the firefighters themselves. The fund's investment program spans three broad asset classes: public equities, fixed income, and alternative investments. The fund participates in the Texas Association of Public Employee Retirement Systems (TEXPERS) asset allocation and performance surveys, benchmarking its portfolio against peer municipal firefighter plans across the state. Assets under management, while not publicly disclosed by the fund, are estimated at $17 million (Altss estimate) — a scale that places the fund among the smaller municipal defined-benefit plans in Texas. The board of trustees, numbering at least seven members, governs via a combination of city-delegated roles and direct firefighter elections. Adrian Gonzalez serves as the mayor's designee, Fred Reyes as the CFO's designee, while Florentino Vela, David Cuellar, and Jaime Hernandez represent active members. Citizen members Jim Hiebert and Mary Garcia bring external fiduciary perspective. The fund maintains membership in TEXPERS, giving it access to educational resources, legislative advocacy, and peer benchmarking data that are critical for a small-staffed board navigating Texas Government Code Chapter 802 requirements. The fund's most distinctive structural feature is its governance model. By statute, active firefighters hold three seats on the board alongside city appointees and independent citizens — a design that ensures the beneficiaries of the trust have direct representation in asset allocation, benefit design, and actuarial decisions. This hybrid fiduciary structure, common in Texas firefighter pension statutes, creates a built-in tension between benefit generosity and long-term solvency that is resolved boardroom by boardroom. For institutional allocators evaluating partnership opportunities, the relevant counterparty is not a staffed investment office but a board of trustees operating through consultants and commingled fund relationships. ## Sectors - Public Equities - Fixed Income - Alternatives ## People - Adrian Gonzalez — Board Member (Mayor Designee) - Fred Reyes — Board Member (CFO Designee) - Jim Hiebert — Board Member (Citizen Member) - Mary Garcia — Board Member (Citizen Member) - Florentino Vela — Board Member (Active Member Representative) - David Cuellar — Board Member (Active Member Representative) - Jaime Hernandez — Board Member (Active Member Representative) ## Questions ### What is the fund's governing statute? The fund operates under Texas Government Code Chapter 802, which governs local firefighter retirement systems in the state. Chapter 802 sets fiduciary standards, board composition requirements, and actuarial funding rules. The Texas Pension Review Board provides regulatory oversight and requires periodic reporting on funded status and investment performance. ### How does the fund's allocation compare to other Texas municipal firefighter plans? The fund participates in TEXPERS benchmarking surveys, which allows comparison against peer plans across asset allocation, performance, and actuarial health. With an estimated $17 million in assets, the fund is on the smaller end of the TEXPERS membership. Many similarly sized Texas firefighter plans concentrate in fixed income for liability matching, with equities and alternatives held in commingled vehicles. ### What benefits does the fund provide? Per the Altss research record, the fund provides service retirement benefits, death benefits, disability benefits, and vested termination benefits exclusively to firefighters employed by the City of Weslaco. As a defined-benefit plan, benefits are calculated by formula rather than determined by investment returns alone, placing the funding risk on the sponsoring city. ### How is the fund related to the City of Weslaco? The City of Weslaco is the plan sponsor. The city appoints two board seats — one through the mayor's office and one through the CFO's office — and bears the ultimate obligation to ensure the plan remains actuarially funded. The fund is a separate legal trust, not a city department, meaning assets are held in trust for beneficiaries and are not available for general municipal purposes. ## Related profiles - [Ventura County Professional Firefighters' Association](https://altss.com/profile/ventura-county-professional-firefighters-association) - [River Branch Foundation](https://altss.com/profile/river-branch-foundation) --- Last updated: 2026-08-11T02:43:31.692Z Canonical page: https://altss.com/profile/weslaco-firemen-s-relief-retirement-fund Maintained by Altss — https://altss.com — methodology: https://altss.com/methodology