The Ohio Public Employees Retirement System is publishing a series of five videos to explain the key factors of the pension bill, which goes into effect on Jan. 7.
The first video in the series is on changes to the terms of age and service that our members will need to meet in order to retire.
The video features Gordon Gatien, OPERS government relations officer.
You can click here to watch the video, which is on our YouTube channel.
Michael,
I work for Lorain County Engineers. I am 49 and have 30 years of service credit. If I don’t retire by Jan 1, then I will lose the 3% COLA for life?
Thanks in advance!
-David
David,
We encourage all of our members to use the COLA calculator on our website’s home page. The calculator will help you determine how much larger your pension benefit would be if you continue working for more years, rather than simply retiring now for what is a simple 3 percent COLA. To answer your question, members who retire with an effective date after Jan. 1, 2013, will be subject to the new COLA law, which will tie the annual adjustment to the Consumer Price Index. It does not eliminate the adjustment. Further, the COLA that’s tied to the CPI won’t be in play until 2018.
Here is a link to our video explaining the changes in the COLA:
–Ohio PERS
I looked at the subsidy on the chart. Why does a person who retires in their 50′s with 30 years of service receive less subsidy for their medical coverage than a person who retires with less than 30 years but is 62? Shouldn’t the person who put in the full 30 years get a better percentage than a person with less than 30 years? Thank you.
Recent retiree,
The health care chart increases the allowance percentage with age and years of service. It does so on a gradual basis, with no extra “boost” for 30 years of service. If anything, those in their 50s are getting an artificial increase by being included in the age-60 group.
–Ohio PERS