Hold on to your wallet

Ohio’s public-trough gobblers say details of pension contributions and benefits are none of your business — even though you, the private-sector taxpayer, have no choice in supporting a retirement windfall system that is, by any measure, generous to a fault. That, in and of itself, should cause us all to rise up in anger. But here’s the kick in the pants: Two of the five pension systems in Ohio — the Ohio Police & Fire Pension Fund and the State Teachers Retirement System — want millions more in taxpayer money to cover increased costs.

The message from the public sector to the private sector is clear: Shut up and pay.

But it isn’t only in Ohio where this issue has struck a nerve. As the New York Times reported earlier this month in a story headlined, “Battle Looms Over Huge Costs of Public Pensions,” the fight is not over millions or billions, but a trillion dollars — at least.

Here are the opening paragraphs of the story by Ron Lieber:

“There’s a class war coming to the world of government pensions.

“The haves are retirees who were once state or municipal workers. Their seemingly guaranteed and ever- escalating monthly pension benefits are breaking budgets nationwide.

“The have-nots are taxpayers who don’t have generous pensions. Their 401(k)s or individual retirement accounts have taken a real beating in recent years and are not guaranteed. And soon, many of those people will be paying higher taxes or getting fewer state services as their states put more money aside to cover those pension checks.

“At stake is at least $1 trillion. That’s trillion, with a ‘t,’ as in titanic and terrifying.”

Can you feel the anger rising?

State funds

In Ohio, the police and fire pension fund is seeking an increase in public contributions (that’s you, the private- sector working stiff who hasn’t had a pay raise in years, whose pension is frozen and whose 401(k) account is tanking fast) from 19.5 percent of police salaries to 25 percent, and from 24 percent of firefighter salaries to 25 percent, in the next few years.

The STRS has asked the Ohio General Assembly to increase public contributions to the fund from 14 percent of teacher and administrator salaries to 16.5 percent over the next few years.

The Highway Patrol Retirement System increased public contributions from 25.5 percent of salaries to 26.5 percent last year.

Who are these individuals who want to pick your pockets? You’ll never know — so long as they fight the efforts of the Ohio News Organization, made up of eight Ohio newspapers, including The Vindicator, to get the minimal amount of information about contributions and benefits from the five retirement systems.

The managers of the systems argue that Ohio’s public-record law does not apply to them.

The newspapers aren’t asking for the names of the participants in the retirement systems, their addresses or any information that would identify them. Ohio News Organization only wants data that can be analyzed to determine if there are flaws or abuses. After all, we, the people, are paying to ensure that the public employees in Ohio continue the good life when they retire.

As for the argument that those on the public payroll contribute to their pensions, here’s an eye-opener that has been written about previously in this space: There are elected officials who have chosen to have the government pay the employee’s share of the pension contribution in lieu of a pay raise. In other words, we’re picking up 100 percent of the tab.

And now, they (the anonymous public-trough gobblers) want more from us.

The reality

The eight newspapers in Ohio have published several investigative stories that highlight the reality of public pensions:

The cost to local governments in the state is $4.1 billion a year. That number will grow by $604 million to $768 million over the next five years.

Who are these individuals on the public payrolls who expect us to feather their retirement beds? How did they get their jobs? What qualifications did they have for being hired? What private-sector work experience did they possess?

If the public pension funds are in trouble, let the recipients of this largess contribute more.

After all, most get to retire when they’re still relatively young — unlike the rest of us.