As police officer shortages plague departments across the state, a bill to address the problem is headed to the House of Representatives. Legislation could address staff shortages, but at what cost?
Fewer boots on the ground, longer hours and delays for residents in need of emergency services.
“It takes hours for an officer to arrive because we’re understaffed,” said Mike Weinman, a retired Columbus police officer.
This problem may deepen the problems of the pension fund. Right now, the Ohio Police and Fire Pension Fund (OP&F) needs to get more money or it will have to cut benefits.
Weinman, a spokesman for the Ohio Fraternal Order of Police, said the bill passed by the Retirement Commission would assist solve both problems.
“If you have a good, solid pension, it attracts people to the career,” said the retired officer.
Republican state representatives Cindy Abrams (Harrison) and Thomas Hall (Madison Twp.) introduced House Bill 296. It would raise employer contributions to OP&F, increasing the city’s contribution to police from 19.5% to 24% over six years. It will also raise employee contributions from 12.25% to 12.5% in 2030.
The required employer contribution is an amount representing a percentage of each employee’s salary. Right now, cities contribute 24% to the fund for full-time career firefighters, so HB 296 will simply make cities pay a fair amount for full-time municipal police officers.
“Not only is this fair, but it also improves the solvency of the fund,” Weinman said.
But the price of solvency of funds may lead cities to bankruptcy.
“We are concerned about the long-term cost implications an unfunded mandate would have on our cities,” said Keary McCarthy of the Ohio Mayors Alliance.
The burden of these costs will be borne by the 30 largest cities. According to McCarthy, they are contributing $300 million to the pension fund. HB 296 would total more than $80 million in taxes across all cities.
“This is $80 million less than the amount of money we will have for our cities to pay higher wages and benefits for first responders,” McCarthy said. “This will prevent us from hiring new officers and increasing staffing levels.”
According to Keary’s research, that means Columbus would pay an additional $15 million, Cleveland $5.5 million and Cincinnati $4.6 million.
McCarthy said that to pay the increased premium, cities would have to raise taxes on residents. But he added that if the bill is not passed, it could encourage cities to raise wages to recruit.
“If we can increase payroll, hire more officers and bring more payers into the system, this will have the best and most positive impact on the long-term fiscal health of the fund,” he said.
The fund, not least in the case of OP&F, has more retirees and beneficiaries than energetic contributing members. Therefore, intergenerational capital may not work. In basic terms, this means that there may not be equal treatment between generations when it comes to financing pensions.
However, huge benefits changes took place in 2012 when the retirement age for first responders was raised from 48 to 52, cost-of-living adjustments (COLA) were eliminated until members reach age 55, and the COLA was found to be was restricted to 3%.
According to the project’s authors, this led to a decrease in unfunded liabilities by $3.2 billion.
Weinman points out that employer premiums haven’t been increased since the 1980s, so assist for people who risk their lives every day is long overdue.
“The government’s top priority is the safety of citizens,” said the retired officer. “That’s where the investment should be going.”
The bill passed the Pension Committee 12-3 and will go to the House of Representatives in December. Only state representatives Angie King (R-Celina), Adam Holmes (R-Nashport) and Ismail Mohamed (D-Columbus) voted against.
Money, money, money
It’s not just OP&F that wants more money.
The pension fund for retired teachers, which we have been servicing continuously for a year, is taking steps to ask employers to raise payments to its fund.
The State Teachers’ Retirement System (STRS) plans to ask lawmakers to raise employer contributions — which also haven’t been updated in decades.
However, unlike police and fire departments, STRS members do not have as many COLAs.
OP&F also has problems with STRS, as do the other four pension funds in Ohio.
Ohio police officials are calling on lawmakers not to punish them and other retirees for the STRS controversy. House Republicans have proposed merging all five public systems to cut costs and stop alleged corruption.
This article was originally published on News5Cleveland.com and are published in the Ohio Capital Journal under a content sharing agreement. Unlike other OCJ articles, it is not available for free republication on other news outlets because it is owned by WEWS in Cleveland.
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