Kathie Bracy's Blog: RH Jones re: OPERS recommendations

From RH Jones, December 12, 2009

Subject: IMPORTANT OPERS Recommendations

To all active & retired educators:

Please click on to the attachments from OPERS to the PERI [Public Employee Retirees, Incorporated] Legislative Alert Email Network. Two things stood out to me (1) from: "OPERS Addressing the Present, Planning for the Future ...to encourage member engagement in their retirement planning and to correct inequities resulting from benefit subsidization."

PERI is the union representing retired public employees. Educators, can you imagine ORTA encouraging member engagement in their retirement planning? They sure haven't in the past 10-years, or so. All that I have gotten from them is dirty looks and snubbed noses. I don't think Dr. Leone, Lazares, and all the other very numerous STRS retired members who have been engaging the STRS board and employees, have gotten only a very minimal of support for the positive changes this pressure has had on maintaining and moving forward our STRS pension benefits. As a "Paid Up for Life Member" I can only hope that due to educator media exposure, ORTA will change their representation methods and begin to aggressively do what we expect of them.

Also, in the attachments: "OPERS Recommendations" from them you will notice you will note this and I quote: "Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) - Replace the current simple COLA with a simple COLA equal to the change in the Consumer Price Index up to 3%. This change would not apply to current OPERS retirees."

Retired educators, the good news their is that the OPERS is not cutting, or in any way, changing retired member's COLA. Also, I must say that I think strongly that our STRS will not cut our COLA either. They surely must know that cutting it may not be either morally correct or legally correct. This is not pension envy; this is STRS doing what is right.

This is the opinion of a retired teacher member of OH STRS,

Robert Hudson Jones

Memo from Bill Winegarner
Subject: Fw: IMPORTANT OPERS Recommendations OPERS Recommendations
Date: December 4, 2009
To: Participants in the PERI Legislative Alert Email Network
From: Bill Winegarner, PERI Administrator

Through out the summer and fall OPERS and PERI, as a member of the stakeholders group, have been working together to aid the OPERS Board of Trustees in determining what adjustments needed to be made in order to keep our retirement system viable, not only as a pension system, but also as a provider of healthcare for its retirees and their families.

I have attached two documents that will hopefully bring you up to date on the decisions that OPERS has made, and the corresponding requests that have been made to the Ohio General Assembly.

We will follow up with more material as the potential legislation begins to take shape.

In the meantime, we wish you and yours a wonderful holiday season