.....and the beat goes on!

Jim N. Reed to the Lancaster Eagle-Gazette
December 29, 2008

'Tis The Season at STRS

Toledo Mayor Finkbeiner has announced a five-day furlough for a thousand city employees for a week in February. Columbus Mayor Coleman has decided to reduce a budget gap by closing several recreation centers and freezing hiring of new police and firemen.

Governor Strickland has ordered nearly $2 billion in budgets cuts in several state agencies.

Pennsylvania Governor Rendell has designated as "inappropriate and indefensible" any bonuses paid to state employees.

How many Fairfield County agencies and organizations are whacking spending, personnel and/or reducing services?

It would seem that the State Teachers Retirement System is immune to this economic downturn in light of the recent allocation of $6 million in bonus pay-outs to the investment staff even though the pension fund lost $30 billion in the past year. More recently, there was an unauthorized paid vacation day for staff on "Black Friday," the day after Thanksgiving. Pension funds contributed by Ohio's active and retired educators, taxpayers and by Boards of Education paid for the $175,000 holiday. Though explicitly prohibited by Board policy, Executive Director Michael Nehf granted the holiday. The Board Chair stated that Mr. Nehf had been given executive discretion for this gift.

STRS Ohio continues to operate under an entitlement philosophy regardless of the current difficult economic and social environment. It remains out of touch with a majority of its nearly 450,000 stakeholders and demonstrates little understanding of the plight of the average retiree.

STRS seems impervious to the warnings of financial experts and the pleas of concerned stakeholders. Board accountability has disappeared despite the efforts of retiree advocate and watchdog reformer Dr. Dennis Leone.

Responses to members' challenges to the mismanagement of pension funds sound quite similar to the non-answers being given by the banking institutions' corporate spokespeople. Recently bailed out financial institutions, when asked to explain their use of billions, have responded with "We're (Bank of New York Mellon) choosing not to disclose that" and "We (JP Morgan Chase) have not disclosed that to the public. We're declining to."

Offended, insulted as an educator, taxpayer, BOE? Respond to board@strs.org.

Jim N. Reed
Baltimore, Ohio