Steve Wartenberg (Columbus Dispatch): STRS Board vote on bonuses
Retired teachers' board votes 7-2 to defer investment-staff bonuses
Some members opposed any bonuses for year when fund lost money
Columbus Dispatch, September 18, 2009
By Steve Wartenberg
By Steve Wartenberg
The State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio's board approved a plan by a 7-to-2 vote today to defer $3.4 million in bonuses to its investment staff.
Many of the system's members opposed the deferred bonuses, saying it wasn't appropriate to pay bonuses at all, even on a delayed basis, for a fiscal year during which the system lost 21.7 percent or about $18 billion and saw its total assets drop to $52.7 billion.
Board members Craig Brooks and Jim McGreevy voted against the proposal.
McGreevy said he agrees in principle with awarding bonuses, but that "given the political, cultural and economics conditions I concluded no."
The proposal calls for half of the bonuses to be paid out after the system's assets total at least $60 billion. The payment would not be made until the end of the fiscal year in which that benchmark is reached, and not before July 1, 2010.
The second half would be paid at the end of the fiscal year in which assets grow to at least $65 billion, and not before July 1, 2011.
The fund's assets stood at $56.8 billion on Aug. 31.
The bonuses will not expire, and employees will be paid even if they have left the system when the benchmarks are met.
Eight of the bonuses are for more than $100,000, with the highest at $162,488.
Previously, the board voted not to award bonuses in any fiscal year in which the fund's total assets decrease.
posted by Kathie Bracy at 10:09 PM
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