|
Columbus
Dispatch...
Ohio
public-pension review seen as
useless, wasteful
Systems’ directors say that
legislative proposal would delay necessary reforms
By Darrel Rowland
Tuesday,
June 21, 2011
The
remarks came on the deadline for
comments about a legislative plan for an outside actuarial review of
the
retirement systems. The Ohio Retirement Study Council’s draft request
for
proposals to conduct that review was unanimously panned.
The
proposal “duplicates studies
already completed and millions of dollars already spent to comply with
existing
reporting or regulatory requirements at both the state and federal
levels,”
said Michael J. Nehf, executive director of the State Teachers
Retirement
System, which he said has laid out $2.2million on such studies during
the past
five years.
“We
believe undertaking a study of the
magnitude proposed in this (request for proposals) for all five systems
could
take years and run into millions of dollars.”
Karen
Carraher, interim executive
director of the Ohio Public Employees Retirement System, said her
system “has
already spent in excess of $700,000 to develop its current
recommendations. The
draft (request for proposals) seems to suggest that the independent
consultant
will re-create that process and expense.”
Lisa
J. Morris, executive director of
the School Employees Retirement System, wrote: “Without a fixed fee,
every hour
and additional question posed by interested parties (and we agree that
this
should be a highly public process) will drive up the cost with no
barrier to
cost.” The school employees system already has spent more than $150,000
in
actuarial costs.
Several
of the pension system leaders
noted that they submitted plans to restore fiscal solvency almost two
years ago
- with updates to some at the beginning of 2011 - but the legislature
has done
nothing to implement the changes.
“This
plan was presented to the Ohio
Retirement Study Council in September 2009 with an expectation of
prompt
legislative action,” said Dan Weiss, executive director and chief
investment
officer of the Highway Patrol Retirement System, who said the patrol’s
proposal
cost $60,000.
“Almost
two years later, in spite of a
record-breaking stock market recovery, long-term solvency is evasive,
because
it requires deliberate plan modifications. Further delays in enacting
pension
reforms will only necessitate more drastic changes at a later date.”
William
J. Estabrook, executive
director of the Ohio Police & Fire Pension Fund, balked at
turning over
retirement system information, including confidential material.
“We
will provide our materials to (the
study council), but not to the vendor,” he said. “OP&F would
like an
explanation on why the contractor needs to be on our premises. Who will
determine what data and information is public information?
Additionally, who is
responsible for leaks of proprietary information?”
Read
it at the Columbus Dispatch
|
