OHNO continues Ohio’s pension push

It’s not unusual in these tough economic times for hundreds of workers to be lined up at a government office.

But the lines in New Jersey of late are of government workers looking to retire and cash in on their pensions before the governor’s overhaul takes over.

Republican Gov. Chris Christie called the state’s government pensions a ticking time bomb that needs immediate corrections.

“We must reverse the damage caused by fairy-tale promises that have fattened benefits and pensions to unsustainable levels,” the governor said.

We’re in a Democratic hotbed here in the Valley, so it would be easy to dismiss the New Jersey move as more Republican attacks on the working class.

But here’s what the working-class local governments of Jersey are facing: A 22-percent jump this year in pension payments. The state has a $46 billion gap between what will be paid into the pension fund and what will be paid out to retired workers. Taxpayers are expected to cover the bill.

It’s a crisis crawling across the country, including here in Ohio.

Two of Ohio’s five key public-pension funds have asked for more than $300 million in tax dollars to cover their shortfalls. The eight-member Ohio Newspaper Organization (OHNO), of which The Vindicator is a member, has been a lead catalyst in scrutinizing government-funded pensions.

That work has made government workers testy about it all — even turning the Canfield Fair into a place to debate the issue.

Vindicator columnist Bertram de Souza has written extensively about OHNO’s pension efforts. At the fair, a retired librarian came to the Vindy tent looking to give Bertram what-not about her pension. She offered up her modest finances and asked, “Does it sound like I’m feeding at the public trough?” (A favorite Bertram line).

There are extremes in any debatable situation, and to be sure, not every government retiree is feeding at the public trough. And the majority are probably more in the librarian’s situation than in the being-fed-grapes life.

And that’s been part of the problem with Ohio’s pensions — the pension managers won’t let newspapers examine the records. So we do not know who’s feasting and who’s not.

That’s been the pensions’ stance since the OHNO work on pensions started last year.

This week, there was a change.

The constant drumbeat of newspaper questions and commentary over denied public-records requests finally moved Attorney General Richard Cordray to get journalists to the table with the pension funds — well, at least one.

OHNO journalists met this week with members of the Ohio Public Employees Retirement System, and it will provide an interesting next-step in OHNO’s effort to allow Ohioans to learn how their tax dollars are being spent on pensions.

Part of that pursuit, in some fashion, will be the gaming of the pension system as workers near retirement.

It’s certainly not expected that an employee’s retirement payment should be equal to their starting wage in the first days of their career.

But it’s just as unseemly to have it based solely on the final three years of pay. This is an era when too many workers pile on overtime and holiday work and other maneuvers meant to spike pay in the final years of employment so as to inflate their pension payment. That’s not what was intended by the “final three years” practice.

Ohio’s eight newspapers will continue to take heat from public employees as we continue this pursuit. I’m sure the fair and other social events will become places to debate this costly issue.

But Ohio’s newspapers historically have been stalwarts in bringing to light concerns for Ohioans.

And when you watch what’s happening in New Jersey with pensions, and the millions of Ohioans’ tax dollars being sought, this is a necessary concern for Ohio.