John Curry: Letter to Senator Keith Faber

From John Curry, July 12, 2009
Subject: Ohio Retirement Study Council decisions

Dear Senator Faber,

I am writing to you, as you are a member of the Ohio Retirement Study Council. Soon, changes will be made to most, if not all, state retirement systems. The downturn economy has affected all Americans as well as just Ohioans.

I am asking your particular attention to be aimed at the State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio and a comparison to your retirement system, the Ohio Public Employees Retirement System. There are vast differences between the benefits currently provided by these two systems.

As a retiree in the STRS (I retired from teaching in 2000 with 30 years) system, I am currently looking at a 2010 monthly healthcare premium (for an 80/20 PPO Med. Mutual) that will be over $1,150 per month (my cost) for my spouse and myself. This is the same healthcare package that you would be eligible for through OPERS had you retired in the year 2000 for less than $100 per month next year. In other words, STRS rates will be over 14 times as much as the OPERS rate next year. This is not equitable nor is it fair to Ohio retired educators.

At the same time that the STRS monthly healthcare insurance rates for a person who retired in 2000 will be over 14 times as much as OPERS, STRS continues to pay out, for 35 years of service retirees, 88% of their final average salaries...a percentage rate that OPERS retirees could only dream of since, with 35 OPERS years, one would only be eligible for a 77% payout of their final average salaries. STRS never could afford the 88/35 benefit and still (more than ever) can't afford this vast difference in FAS payouts.

There are tens of thousands of STRS retirees in my shoes who are facing and will continue to face this vast inequity. For their sake and mine, I beg of you to not touch our retirees' current 3% Cost of Living allowance. ...it is all we retirees have left to fight inflation and increased healthcare costs. If you need to cut anywhere, at least make the STRS 88% equal to your retirement system's 77% for 35 years of service. Current active educators will have time to plan and make life/job decisions as they are younger and have time to do what is necessary for their future. Retirees of my age (61) have far fewer options and far more health problems that would prevent them from making similar decisions.

In any event, please considering grandfathering, something STRS didn't do when they "trashed" all subsidies for spouses of retirees in the STRS system inthe early part of this decade and, unlike OPERS, didn't resume the spousal healthcare insurance subsidy at age 55 for the spouses of OPERS retirees. Our system lost far more than five former board members and a former executive director to criminal convictions of Ohio ethics violations, we also lost the foresight that could have been given by fiduciaries who really cared about my future and the future of my fellow STRS retirees. They were fiddling while Rome burned. We are now paying the price.

Thank you for your consideration in this matter.

Sincerely,
John Curry
Wapakoneta, OH