the form of withholdings from employees). The retirement systems may allocate a portion of the employer contributions to provide for these OPEB benefits. In addition, health care plan enrollees pay a portion of the health care costs in the form of a monthly premium. State statute requires the retirement systems to amortize unfunded pension liabilities within 30 years. If the pension amortization period exceeds 30 years, each retirement system’s board must propose corrective action to the State legislature. Any resulting legislative change to benefits or funding could significantly affect the net pension/OPEB liability. Resulting adjustments to the net pension/OPEB liability would be effective when the changes are legally enforceable. The Ohio Revised Code permits, but does not require the retirement systems to provide healthcare to eligible benefit recipients.
The proportionate share of each plan’s unfunded benefits is presented as a long-term net pension/OPEB liability on the accrual basis of accounting. Any liability for the contractually-required pension/OPEB contribution outstanding at the end of the year is included in accrued wages and benefits on both the accrual and modified accrual bases of accounting.
The remainder of this note includes the pension disclosures. See Note 6 for the OPEB disclosures.
Ohio Public Employees Retirement System (OPERS)
Plan Description
City employees, other than full-time safety officers, participate in the Ohio Public Employees Retirement System (OPERS). OPERS is a cost-sharing, multiple employer public employee retirement system which administers three separate pension plans. The traditional pension plan is a cost-sharing, multiple-employer defined benefit pension plan. The member-directed plan is a defined contribution plan and the combined plan is a combination cost-sharing, multiple-employer defined benefit/defined contribution pension plan. In October 2023, the legislature approved House Bill (HB) 33 which allows for the consolidation of the combined plan with the traditional plan with the timing of the consolidation at the discretion of OPERS. As of December 31, 2023, the consolidation has not been executed. (The latest information available.) Participating employers are divided into state, local, law enforcement and public safety divisions. While members in the state and local divisions may participate in all three plans, law enforcement and public safety divisions exist only within the traditional plan.
OPERS provides retirement, disability, survivor and death benefits, and annual cost of living adjustments to members of the traditional and combined plans. Authority to establish and amend benefits is provided by Chapter 145 of the Ohio Revised Code. OPERS issues a stand-alone financial report that includes financial statements, required supplementary information and detailed information about OPERS’ fiduciary net position that may be obtained by visiting https://www.opers.org/financial/reports.shtml, by writing to the Ohio Public Employees Retirement System, 277 East Town Street, Columbus, Ohio 43215-4642, or by calling 800-222-7377.
Senate Bill (SB) 343 was enacted into law with an effective date of January 7, 2013. In the legislation, members in the traditional and combined plans were categorized into three groups with varying provisions of the law applicable to each group. The following table provides age and service requirements for retirement and the retirement formula applied to final average salary (FAS) for the three member groups under the traditional and combined plans as per the reduced benefits adopted by SB 343 (see OPERS Annual Comprehensive Financial Report referenced above for additional information, including requirements for reduced and unreduced benefits):