Needed changes are coming to Ohio’s public employee pension plans. It’s just a matter of when, and how substantial, the changes will be.

Two bills are pending before the Legislature and a pension review is under way before the Ohio Retirement Study Council, the agency that oversees the state’s five public pension programs.

The Kasich administration’s goal is apparently to ensure future solvency of public pension programs by bringing benefits more in line with those in the private sector. …

The call for reform comes after the taxpayer-supported public plans, which are heavily invested in the stock market, showed substantial losses in 2008 and 2009. As a result, at least two of the programs proposed larger contributions from “employers” (taxpayers) to keep the plans above water. …

One of Ohio’s public pensions, the School Employees Retirement System, which serves non-teaching school employees, seems to be on the right track when it comes to reform.

Its board has already approved recommendations that its administrators say will provide benefits for retiring members without placing an additional burden on taxpayers. …

More changes may be needed to protect the interests of public employees and taxpayers. Public employees, for instance, may need to contribute more toward their plan in the future, considering it offers health care benefits in retirement.

Still, the School Employees Retirement System plan seems to be a good place to start.

The (Findlay) Courier

Legislators don’t need a bar in the Statehouse

Surely Ohio legislators can get all they need to drink without installing a bar at the Statehouse in Columbus.

Alcohol already can be served at special events held in the capitol building. While lawmakers are in Columbus, there are plenty of meet-and-greet events at which beer, wine and liquor flow freely. And, of course, there are bars near the capitol.

A cafeteria in the Statehouse basement already can make alcoholic beverages available when requested for special events. But there is no bar facility per se; alcohol is furnished only on a temporary basis when requested.

We don’t blame the caterer who handles such events for suggesting a permanent bar should be set up at the cafeteria. He simply thought doing so would generate additional revenue for the state and, of course, himself.

But, according to published reports, no other state capitol in the nation has a permanent bar. Legislators in other states are sensitive to the message such facilities send, especially to the large groups of young students who frequently tour capitol buildings. …

Ohio lawmakers — three of whom have been in the headlines for alcohol-related problems during the past few months — ought to be more sensitive than most of their peers in other states in that regard.

… The naysayers are right. There is no good reason to establish a permanent bar in the basement, and lawmakers should recognize that and reject the idea. The Marietta Times, Aug. 26

The Marietta Times, Aug. 26