Flashback, 3 years ago: STRS workers to get nearly $4 million in bonuses

“Oh my God,” said state Rep. Michelle Schneider, R-Cincinnati, and sponsor of legislation to reform the state’s five pension systems. “They just don’t get it. The nightmare continues.”

STRS workers to get $3.85M in bonuses

Canton Repository, May 12, 2004
By PAUL E. KOSTYU
Copley Columbus Bureau chief

COLUMBUS — Employees of the State Teachers Retirement System will get bonuses worth $3.85 million from a program that was suspended in the aftermath of revelations about excessive spending last year.

Retirement System Executive Director Damon Asbury said late Tuesday night that he will recommend to the Retirement System board next week that payments be made to 371 investment and noninvestment employees for work done in the 2002-03 fiscal year.

Asbury said he felt the system had a legal responsibility to make the payments because employees participated in the program expecting to earn bonuses for meeting “stretch goals.”

Employees met their stretch goals, for example, by attending workshops, talking to parents and keeping spreadsheets of expenses, according to information first reported in July 2003 by Copley Ohio Newspapers.

Asbury made the decision based on an Ohio attorney general opinion issued late last year, but not made public. He said the report indicated that a valid bonus contract existed between the system and employees.

“Oh my God,” said state Rep. Michelle Schneider, R-Cincinnati, and sponsor of legislation to reform the state’s five pension systems. “They just don’t get it. The nightmare continues.”

Asbury said he intended to brief key lawmakers Tuesday, including Schneider, but couldn’t because of the Legislature’s busy calendar. But he said state Sen. Lynn R. Wachtmann, R-Napoleon, and another sponsor of reform legislation, knew about Asbury’s decision earlier this year. Wachtmann, who is also chairman of the Ohio Retirement Study Council, could not be reached Tuesday night. The council meets today.

“This is not a step in the right direction,” said Schneider, a member of the council. “It absolutely hurts the effort to restore faith and trust in the system.”

Thomas Curtis, a retired teacher from North Canton, called for Asbury’s resignation immediately. He said Asbury told retirees “there was no contract” with noninvestment employees and they would never get bonuses. “This is totally against what he told us. I am disgusted.”

Asbury said he had heard informally that employees planned to sue the system over the bonuses. He said he had hoped to have the issue settled in January, but “we didn’t want it to get in the way of the pension reform bill in the Legislature.”

John Lazares, a Warren County superintendent who was just elected to the board but will not take office until September, wondered if there was another motive. He beat incumbent board member and chairman Eugene Norris by less than 300 votes Saturday. He said the margin would have been even greater had this news come out sooner.

“I ran on the issue that we have to rebuild confidence and respect for the system,” he said. “I know this will devastate members. I don’t support it.”

Asbury said there is money in the system’s budget this year to pay the bonuses, but not in next year’s budget.

“We need to move forward,” he said. “This is a carry-over from our past. It’s unfortunate. This is one thing we have to deal with head-on. I understand the sentiment on both sides. It’s not a decision I took lightly. I agonized over it, but I feel it is the right decision in the best overall interest of the system.”

You can reach Copley Columbus Bureau Chief Paul E. Kostyu at (614) 222-8901 or e-mail: paul.kostyu@cantonrep.com