News
Updated – November, 20 2008
Yesterday in committee an
amendment was added (see below) to give the OPF board the ability to vote on
any increases in Medicare B contributions by the fund. The amount could
never be lower than the present rate, but if there is an increased by the Feds,
the board would not have to pay for that increase. I had heard that this
was a possibility so I hand delivered the attached letter to all committee
members prior to the hearing. When there are amendments offered, you are
not able to speak to each amendment individually. The amendment passed
without opposition. As far as I know, we were the only group to express
our opposition to the committee.
Ric Oxender PFRO Legislative Agent
SB267 PERS (Faber K) Regarding the Public Employees Retirement System law enforcement division.
REPORTED OUT AS AMENDED
Jay McDonald, representing
the Fraternal Order of Police of Ohio, and Tom Sherman, representing the
Public Employees
Retirement System, testified in favor of the bill.
McDonald said the bill
would give law enforcement employees credit toward retirement for years they
spent
working for law
enforcement agencies but not in a capacity that required them to preserve
peace, protect life or
enforce laws. Currently,
McDonald said, someone who works as a jailer for five years before taking a road
patrol
could not count those five
years toward his or her 25-year retirement under the law enforcement division
of
OPERS.
the fact that law
enforcement personnel can retire as early as age 48.
The committee voted to
report the bill out after accepting three amendments. One, from Rep. Widener,
the
committee chairman, was a
technical amendment. A second, from Rep. Zehringer, removes municipal public
safety directors from the
OPERS law enforcement division. A third, from Rep.
Bacon, allows the OPERS and
Police and Fire
Pension Fund boards to place a cap on the amount retirees can be reimbursed for
their premiums
paid toward
Medicare Part B.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Building still burning where 3 firefighters were hurt
Updated:
By Kathy Gray
THE
WBNS-10TV
The scene of the blast
Google Maps
A
natural-gas fueled fire that blew up part of a
Three
One male firefighter had second- and third-degree burns on his hands and
face and was taken to
The other firefighters - a man and a woman - have contusions and concussions. They were taken to Mount Carmel West hospital.
The explosion occurred at
Firefighters had been called to the scene when construction workers hit a gas line outside of an adult bookstore called the Cherry Box. They were about to enter the building when the gas exploded.
Officials did not know this afternoon if anyone was in the building. Firefighters could not enter the building after the explosion because it continued to burn.
Neighbors reported that an apartment was located above the bookstore.
The explosion blew part of the roof off the building and destroyed at least
one wall. By
The names and conditions of the firefighters have not been released.
State retiree data
lost in the mail
Insurer says 11 computer disks may have lacked postage;
36,000 people affected
THE
Computer
disks that contain personal information about 36,000
The 11 disks contain information about members of the School Employee Retirement System and its employees, the State Teachers Retirements System, Ohio Police and Fire Pension Fund and the Ohio Highway Patrol Retirement System.
Medical Mutual officials said no medical information was on the disks, but declined to give any more details.
The disks were mailed from Medical Mutual's
The retiree systems notified the company that the disks hadn't arrive.
Medical Mutual contacted the U.S. Postal Service last week that one package was missing, said Ray Jacobs, spokesman for the Postal Service. Yesterday, the company told the Postal Service that 11 packages were lost.
Company executives believe the disks are somewhere in the system -- not in criminal hands -- and will be located.
"We ask
"Our investigation, so far, indicates that insufficient postage was placed on the envelopes, therefore we believe they are likely to still be safe within the postal system."
Jacobs said there is no way to confirm that the packages were even mailed and no way to track them.
The mail recovery center in
"We're on high alert to recover them if they're in the mail stream," he said.
If the disks aren't located, Medical Mutual will provide credit monitoring services and free credit reports for those affected by the loss. The company also said that it will create a hot line for people with questions.
Laura Ecklar, spokeswoman for the State Teachers Retirements System, said she is hopeful the disks will show up.
"Medical Mutual is working very hard to try to find these disks," she said.
Affected members with questions can call Medical Mutual at 1-800-854-8139 or go to the company's Web site, http://www.medmutual.com/.
Public pension funds taking a hit
Market's volatility latest setback in a bad year
By Bill Bush
THE
With the collapse of
Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, American International Group and Lehman Brothers, the
third quarter was tough on
But this quarter has kicked off to a bloodbath.
The S&P 500 is down 22 percent since its close on Sept. 30, the end of last quarter's reporting period for the state's stock-heavy pension funds.
In less than a year, the Ohio Police & Fire Pension Fund lost almost of
third of its value as of the close of markets Friday, one of the worst weeks in
stock market history. The fund peaked at $13.2 billion on
"Obviously, '08 is not going to be -- at this point -- a positive year in the market for any investor," said agency spokesman David Graham.
Other funds, including the massive State Teachers Retirement Fund and the Ohio Public Employees Retirement System, said they don't know what they've lost in the most recent downturn. But the two funds -- ranked in the top 18 public and private pension funds nationally by total assets -- are expected to have added to already huge losses sustained in the past year.
The teachers' investment portfolio was off 21 percent at the end of last month from its peak of $80.1 billion in October 2007, "before the real crazy stuff here in the last four or five days," said board member Dennis Leone, citing an investment report from last month.
The teachers' pension fund is 67 percent invested in domestic and foreign stocks, and part of its decline was attributed to a "passive" computer program that bought stocks automatically, Leone said. The program purchased 92,000 shares of Fannie Mae at $20 a share in late June; the stock lost half its value two weeks later and closed yesterday at $1 a share, a 95 percent wipeout, he said.
"I'm a little nervous about the enormity of the losses that we've sustained in the past month -- well, actually in the last 12 months," Leone said.
The Ohio Public Employees Retirement System, the largest pension fund in
The School Employees Retirement System of Ohio has lost about 17 percent on its investments since June 2007. The fund is 65 percent in stocks, and in June this year, for the first time, it sank $258 million into hedge funds, which are lightly regulated and often secretive investment firms. But after only three months, the pension fund's board suspended all further hedge-fund investing, said spokeswoman Laurel Johnson. The move was because a consultation warned of "market volatility," she said.
"Obviously this is unprecedented," said Aristotle Hutras, director of the Ohio Retirement Study Council, which advises state lawmakers on pension issues. But it won't necessarily mean anything to the tens of thousands of public-employee pension holders over the long term, he said.
If the downturn were to persist for years, it might mean that lawmakers would force pension systems to lower benefits or raise member contributions, but nothing like that is being contemplated, Hutras said.
"Times will be good again," he said.
________________________________________________________________________________________________
The retirement system for
The Ohio Police and Fire Pension Fund told about 13,000 members that their
names, addresses and Social Security numbers were released.
The system has about 24,000 members.
The fund says a former mailroom supervisor forwarded the information from his
work e-mail address to his personal e-mail address before quitting his job Aug.
15.
Retirement fund executive director William Estabrook says there's no reason to
think the ex-employee was misusing the information or passing it on to others.
But he says retirees should
check their financial accounts to be safe.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CHECK THE BENEFITS PAGE PENSION
AND HEALTH CARE NEWS
CHECK THE EVENTS PAGE FOR GOLF LEAGUES AND SCHEDULES
The Columbus Fire
Honor Guard now has fire remembrance flags available for internment services to
Columbus Firefighters. The Honor Guard has always been and still will fold an
American flag draped on a veteran’s casket, and present to a close living
member at the internment services. There is now an option for non veterans (and
veterans) to have a subordinate flag to drape the casket and be
presented.
The Columbus Fire
Honor Guard found that there was a need for a flag for
The fire remembrance
flag is a 9 1/2 by 5 foot flag, sized to drape on a casket. The flag consist of
three horizontal stripes of red, black then red. In the center is the Columbus
Fire logo. The logo is sewn on, not printed. When the flag is folded, it is red
in color.
Thanks to the support
of the Firefighters VFW (Captain Ron Casto) and the Local 67 firefighters
union, the Honor Guard can now provide these flags to members wishing to
purchase. The cost is currently $260.00 for this quality constructed flag. The
Honor Guard does not make any money on the purchase or sale of these flags. It
is the intent to have a minimum stock on hand to serve any unforeseen needs.
Inquires can be made through any Honor Guard Unit Commander or the office of
ES-1 at 645-4128.
Captain
Don Weldon
Honor Guard Commander
Call your
The toll-free # for all members of congress is 1-866-327-8670
Remember...support HR 82 and S 206! The Social Security Fairness
Act of 2007!
Support the
2009 Fire Dept. Pocket Calendar is on sale now. To order call Cheri Weiler @ 614-231-9779
Proceeds
benefit
Fellow firefighter,
I recently published a historical novel, When the Bronx Burned, about the
burning of
'67 to '76, when it was burning. I am sure some of your members would enjoy
this book. The book is dedicated to firefighters everywhere, especially
those who served in these areas during that time when we often fought five
or more building fires on a tour.
Thanks,
Lt. John Finucane
Ret, FDNY
L59E85@aol.com
845.548.4235