Sunday, January 03, 2010

Pension War In Ohio, Greedy Police and Fire Unions Ask For Still More

It is bad enough that police and firefighters beg for still more taxpayer money, the worst part is politicians are willing to go along with it.

Please consider Pension reform fight has makings of a war. http://www.daytondailynews.com/news/day ... 74359.html

Like it or not, lawmakers will be asked this year to overhaul the state’s public pension systems that serve 1.7 million Ohioans and cost local governments more than $4 billion a year.

It’ll be an epic struggle among powerful interest groups to determine how the burden of shoring up the pension systems is shared.

Teachers, cops and firefighters may be asked to work longer. Retirees will likely face higher medical costs. And taxpayers may be asked to chip in as much as $5 billion toward the pension systems, if lawmakers accept proposed increases from two of the state’s five public pension funds.

The Ohio Police & Fire Pension Fund and State Teachers Retirement System are asking for rate increases that, over the next five years alone, would cost local governments hundreds of millions of dollars.

State Sen. Kirk Schuring, R-Canton, described the viability of making taxpayers shell out more through higher employer contributions as “highly unlikely, probably impossible,â€