Podcast: David Pepper and Robin Rayfield, to clarify all that’s been happening with STRS. All the chaos and rhetoric has a lot of people confused.
ORTA Staff
May 23,2024
NEW Podcast: The Retiree View of Ohio's Pension Drama
"I just want my COLA"
David Pepper did a podcast with Robin Rayfield, Executive Director of ORTA, to clarify all that’s been happening with STRS. All the chaos and rhetoric has a lot of people confused. Here are some quotes from their discussion:
“I have members—many thousands of members—whose retirement is maybe $30,000 a year. How are these people supposed to live on $30,000 a year?…So those losses of COLA are extremely painful.”
“We have people who had to go nine years without a COLA.”
“‘Tell me what the plan is. What’s the pathway back to COLA?’ Never, never, never did they respond….I asked that question a dozen times: What is the plan?”
Staff bonuses: “100% of salary. If you make $200,000, you get $200,000 in bonus. If you make $400,000, you get $400,000 in bonus…They’ve never not gotten the bonus…We had trouble understanding that.”
“[W]e’re getting hammered in this alternatives market. The private equity. The private capital. The hedge funds. Getting killed in fees.”
“I voted for Mike DeWine…But he has single-handedly done more to hurt public education in his terms as Governor than all the other Governors combined….He’s hell bent on getting rid of [] public education, and for that, I’m embarrassed that I voted for him.”
“What I want is my COLA. I want good return. I want every opportunity to make money to be fully vetted.”
“We hope that we’ll get transparency…Ohio politics needs to be cleaned up.”
posted by Kathie Bracy at 7:10 PM
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