Subject: A reposting of a repost -- Will the presentation of this report drag on until after the November elections? (I think so!)
Note from John: Well, the election is but 9 days away and STILL NO REPORT RESULTS. Could it be that the current method of choosing an institution for the safekeeping of our funds not be politically acceptable to those in charge? Guess we'll have to wait (another month) and see, won't we? Nothing like a timely report that we paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for!
From John Curry, September 24, 2006
Subject: Due in May? May has gone! The IFS audit of STRS & Ohio Police and Fire
Note from John - Since our tax supported Ohio Retirement Study Council has decided not to communicate with me via email re. the ORSC commissioned IFS audit of STRS and the Ohio Police and Fire Retirement Systems' performance audit (and certainly not a forensic audit) I do find (from our very blogsite) where one of our CORE members (Tom Curtis) received an earlier response from Mr. Hutras at the ORSC. In Tom's article below, Aristotle Hutras gave lip service to a planned presentation in May (2006). Well, May has gone to Father Time and so have the months of June, July, August, and most of September AND STILL NO RELEASE OF THE REPORT that was proposed by the ORSC more than two years ago. Will the presentation of this report drag on until after the November elections? Will the results be "timely," considering that the information gleaned for this report is almost two years old?
Some additional questions come to mind: "Just how many hundreds of thousands of dollars will the STRS be billed on this almost two years old document?" Will this audit be forthcoming and truthful considering that the "auditors" are paid by the very same administration that they audited or will this be an audit by the "fox auditing the henhouse?"
I say the above from experience as one of my former local school superintendent's (transplanted from another state) school system underwent a "clean audit" by a private firm (remember, this wasn't Ohio - this state (Iowa) allowed private audits(!) of school systems) only to be followed up by a state ordered audit that eventually led to his copping the "Alford plea" and being convicted of a felony for misuse of school funds.
Anyway, here is Tom's previous posting re. Hutras and the delayed-too-long audit:
From Tom Curtis: Performance audit due in May
From: Tom Curtis
Sent: Monday, January 23, 2006
Subject: 012306 Curtis To All, Performance Audit Due In May
Hello Everyone,
I talked with Mr. Aristotle Hutras, the director of the Ohio Retirement Study Council this morning and was told the ORSC is also anxious to get the performance audits behind them. IFS, Inc., the auditing firm handling this, is in the process of completing their reports for both the STRS & the OF&PRS and the planned presentations are in May. He told me it has taken so long because of the number of people that had to be interviewed and the handling of the non- investment bonuses and finalization of such for the STRS. They want the two retirement systems work completed at the same time and presented the same month.
Take care,
Tom Curtis
CORE Advisory Committee Member
Mr Curry
Today I spoke with Aristotle Hutras, Director of the Ohio Retirement Study Council about your concern on the status of the studies of the Ohio Police and Fire Retirement System and the State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio, which was commissioned by the Independent Fiduciary Services of Washington D.C.
As of today, September 28, the ORSC is still waiting on the reports to be finished. One of the main reasons is that during the process of the study, the ORSC went to the IFS and asked to have another provision added to the study, particularly whether or not the current system of dealing with custodial assets is the best way to do so. Currently the state Treasury has the power to pick which banks hold the assets. The ORSC wanted included in the study the possibility of the ORSC having some kind of say where the assets are held. This addition to the study is one of the reasons the report has yet to be finished.
Mr Hutras had no way of knowing when the report would be finished but informed me that when it is presented they are planning to have all members present.
I hope this clears up any questions to the status of the report.
If our office can be of any further assistance in the future please do not hesitate to contact us.
Thank you,
Kevin Stolecki
Office of Senator Marc Dann
The Ohio State Senate
(614) 456-7182
(614) 466-5559 (fax)
kstolecki@maild.sen.state.oh.us
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