The Ohio House of Representatives has passed pension reform aimed at combating police staffing shortages, but the bill faces an uphill battle in the Senate.
Police shortages plaguing cities across the state may be one step closer to a solution.
“If we don’t have such a strong and secure retirement, we won’t be able to employ our best and brightest people to work in this profession when we need them most,” said Jay McDonald, president of the Ohio Fraternal Order of Police.
On Wednesday night, the House passed historic police pension reform. Right now the Ohio Police and Fire Pension needs to get more funding or they will have to cut benefits.
To address this problem, Republican state representatives Cindy Abrams (Harrison) and Thomas Hall (Madison Twp.) introduced House Bill 296. It would escalate employer contributions to OP&F, increasing cities’ contributions to police from 19.5% to 24% over six years. It will also escalate 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.
It passed bipartisan 66-25.
McDonald, who is also Marion’s police chief, said the chamber was an uncomplicated chamber.
“They are going backwards, trying to stop this bill,” the chief said.
The bill heads to the Senate, where local leaders are already meeting with legislators to reject it.
According to OP&F’s financial reports, cities contribute more than $600 million to the pension fund annually, of which $300 million comes from just the 30 largest municipalities. HB 296 would raise a total of over $80 million across all cities.
It would cost all Ohio cities a total of $80 million added to the $600 million they already contribute to the pension fund.
On Monday, more than a dozen local leaders from across the state gathered to oppose the bill.
“This bill would devastate public safety in our communities,” said Toledo Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz, noting that the proposed escalate in fund costs would be tantamount to laying off more than 40 officers. “It would result in worse pay for police and firefighters and would result in fewer of them.”
Local authorities also found support from the business community.
“Unless taxpayers are willing to increase employer contributions, there won’t be enough police force in some cities that are already struggling to find enough cadets for their police classes,” said Tony Long of the Ohio Chamber of Commerce.
Long said cities can’t afford it and the financial burden will fall on residents and petite businesses.
“If you have to raise a municipal police fee or increase the municipal income tax rate, companies pay that through the municipal net profits tax – which would then further increase the cost of your goods and services,” the lobbyist said.
The employer contribution hasn’t been increased since the 1980s, so McDonald said it’s long overdue to do so to lend a hand people who risk their lives every day.
“There are only two ways to solve this problem: either increase revenue from employers or make cuts to the men and women who have served their community for 30 years,” the chief said. “So the question for legislators and mayors is: ‘Which one do you choose?’”
But the bill faces an uphill battle in the Senate.
“I think it will be extremely difficult to do this before the end of the year,” Senate President Matt Huffman said.
He wants to rely on the expertise of the Ohio Retirement Study Board and get more information from them.
“Pensions are a complicated issue,” the president said.
However, the act is not completely dead.
“We will certainly try to address this issue,” Huffman said.
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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