OP&F responds to city lobbying groups opposed to HB 296, praises Senate for intro. of SB 194

Opponent testimony ignores comments from ORSC actuary since 1994

In testimony presented to the Ohio House Pension Committee ahead of today’s (Nov. 28, 2023) meeting on House Bill 296, several opponents of the bill seem unaware of the repeated actuarial studies that comment on equalizing employer contributions to the Ohio Police & Fire Pension Fund.

OP&F Executive Director Mary Beth Foley explained why the testimony was so disappointing for members of the Ohio Police & Fire Pension Fund.

“We are disappointed that our employer partners do not support the public safety forces that keep our cities safe,” said Mary Beth Foley, Executive Director of the Ohio Police & Fire Pension Fund. “Most Ohio big cities have a budget well over or approaching a billion dollars and are complaining about a reasonable phased in equalization that they have avoided for nearly 40 years.”

OP&F is seeking a solution to a real problem requiring employers to play a role after already cutting members’ benefits and increasing their own share of the pension. The Ohio Municipal League, in its testimony, accused the pension fund of seeking to put the burden only on employers who haven’t seen an increase in their share since the mid-1980s.

Another assertion from several Ohio municipalities is that the Ohio Retirement Study Council should further examine the reasons why OP&F is facing a future funding shortfall. The independent ORSC actuary has looked at the sufficiency of contributions for OP&F annually for more than 30 years.

Most recently stated in the September 14, 2023, ORSC meeting, ORSC actuary William Fornia stated: “It probably would completely solve the issue if the contribution rates were set to the higher amount.”

Foley replied, “No more studies. We know the problem. We know the funding mechanisms. We adopted reasonable changes lowering our request of the General Assembly but the municipalities seem intent on opposing any participation to ensure the long term stability of the pension fund.”

Representatives Cindy Abrams and Thomas Hall introduced the updated Public Safety Pension Modernization Act on Oct. 5, 2023. Senator Michele Reynolds recently introduced a companion bill, Senate Bill 194.

The legislation refines a previous one from the last session, compromising with and reasonable changes to modernize and ensure the ongoing solvency of OP&F.

The primary component of the bill, which also marks a departure from two years ago, concerns the employer share of the pension payments for first responders. While this bill maintains the employer share for firefighter pensions at 24%, it proposes to equalize the employer share for police to 24%, ensuring parity for all first responders.