Employees, retirees may see pension cut
Largest public system in Ohio looks to improve finances.
COLUMBUS — Ohio’s biggest public pension system is considering cutting the cost of living allowances for its 1 million members as a way to shore up the longterm finances of the fund.
Ohio Public Employees Retirement System trustees Wednes- day discussed options that could affect all current and future retirees, including tying the cost of living allowance to inflation and capping it and delaying the onset of the COLA for new retirees.
No decision has been made and trustees will discuss the options again in October. So far, some 72,000 members responded to an OPERS survey about possible changes. OPERS spokesman Todd Hutchins said 70 percent of retirees responding to the survey
report that they prefer that the COLA be capped, rather than frozen.
OPERS is the latest of the five public pensions systems in Ohio to consider bene- fit cuts.
The State Teachers Retire- ment System of Ohio in April voted to indefinitely suspend the COLA for retired teachers. Trustees said they weren’t certain that the cut would be enough to shore up the finances of the $72-billion fund.
Ohio Police & Fire Pension Fund is expected to hire a consultant to help restruc- ture its health care benefits. OP&F announced in May it would switch in January 2019 to issuing stipends to each retiree, who can then use the money to purchase coverage.
School Employees Retirement System, which covers janitors, bus drivers and cafeteria workers, is taking steps to link its cost of living allowance to inflation, cap it at 2.5 percent, and delay its onset for new retirees.
Combined, Ohio’s five public pension systems have 1.9 million members, ben- eficiaries and retirees and have nearly $200 billion in investments.