Here we have Angie and Alice, two Ohio government employees, identical in age, working the same number of years, but paying different contribution rates and receiving different retirement benefits.
- ORTA Staff
- 14 hours ago
- 3 min read
Bob Buerkle addressed the STRS Ohio Board during Public Participation on April 17, 2025.
Growing up as twin sisters in Ohio, Angie and Alice were always fascinated with their local Library and what they could learn through reading and research as they progressed through elementary and high school. Upon entering College, they decided to major in education and become librarians themselves. They graduated in 1991 and Angie was offered a job as a High School Librarian and Media Center Coordinator. Alice was also offered a job, at her local county library.
The two women earned roughly the same salaries, but Angie noticed that she was required to pay a higher percentage of her salary into STRS than Alice was paying into OPERS.
Well, at least the pension formulas were the same and they could retire after 30 years of service.
Fast forward 33-years to June, 2025.
Now Angie's STRS Plan has temporarily lowered the retirement years required for an unreduced pension to 33-years and she plans to retire. For the last nine years she has been required to pay 40% more, yet will receive less benefits than her sister Alice. Also, the 2.2% STRS formula will provide a 72.6% FAS pension.
Sister Alice decided to delay her retirement until Angie could retire, since OPERS had also grandfathered the COLA rules of up to 3% for their employees. Because OPERS gives 2.5% credit for each year beyond 30, Alice's pension will be larger, at 73.5% of her FAS.
Not a huge difference until you consider a few facts other than the 40% in additional contributions she has paid for the last 9 years.
Angie has no guarantee that STRS will pay her a COLA in retirement. Alice will always receive an annual COLA of up to 3% or the CPI rate if it is lower than 3%.
Angie must pay nearly $4000 a year for her STRS health care plan before Medicare age. Alice will receive over $14,000 per year from OPERS, tax free, placed into her HRA, Health Retirement Account. She can purchase an OTC health care plan and have enough to pay for dental, vision, hearing, podiatry care, etc. Alice also gets to keep any unused HRA money to pay for any future medical expenses, not covered now, or later by Medicare, for the rest of her life.
Angie's future Medicare Advantage Plan with STRS doesn't include a dental or vision plan. Alice on the other hand, will receive a $400 monthly OPERS Medicare subsidy and she can then select a Medicare Advantage Plan in the open market, many which have a no monthly fee, yet also include dental, vision and hearing coverage, as well as many free OTC health care products.
Finally, STRS will pay Angie's heirs a $1000 death benefit when she passes away, while Alice's heirs will be paid $2500 from OPERS when she dies.
Here we have two Ohio government employees identical in age, working the same number of years, but paying different contribution rates. They receive different pension amounts on roughly the same Final Average Salaries.
Today OPERS and STRS have different pension requirements, different health care benefits and different COLA promises.
STRS, OPERS and SERS all provided the same 30-year pension formulas and COLA's in the past, but that's no longer true.
If the OPERS, STRS and SERS retirement plans, had either been merged, or funded using a variable employer contribution rate, pension benefits & plan provisions could have remained the same.
Bob Buerkle
April 17, 2025