Ohio County Schools May Join Suit: 49 of W.Va.’s 55 districts suing over retiree benefits

WHEELING - Ohio County Board of Education members will decide Monday whether to join 49 of West Virginia's 55 school districts in a lawsuit over health care benefits for retirees.

Since 2006, school boards have had to record in their accounting books the amount of "other post-employment benefits" (OPEB) owed to their retirees. The figure primarily pertains to retirement health care and life insurance benefits.

“In Ohio County, recorded OPEB costs will be about $700,000 this year, according to Superintendent George Krelis. That figure will jump to $4.4 million in 2010, and will continue to increase.”

I like to put these sort of numbers into perspective by removing zeroes and applying them to something tangible. Imagine it said this:

“My monthly rent will be about $700 per month this year. That figure will jump to $4,400 per month in 2010, and will continue to increase.”

In three words: this is ludicrous.

yes it is
it looks like only different a way to record the costs. The school districts seem to fear they will be on the hook for these costs instead of the state. oh too bad
OTOH I don’t fault the employees, they worked for years with their health care costs being part of their benefit package. I am guessing they didn’t pay into medicare since their medical care was covered as part of their package.

Now we know why they want to shift the Medicare to age 55 and they are so happy about this.

They aren’t going to save anything and they know it.

These Unions and the States are getting a free ride. These are the people that should be taxed. They are the ones that made these agreements with the Unions.

“
Among those present were state Sens. Larry Edgell, D-Wetzel;
Jeff Kessler, D-Marshall; and Jack Yost, D-Brooke; as well as
Delegates Orphy Klempa and Tal Hutchins, both D-Ohio.
“

So much for diversity.

“
Edgell is a retired school teacher.
“

All the more reason for him to recuse himself from the matter.
But during all my years, I’ve NEVER heard of a Democrat/Liberal
recusing themself from a court case or legislative vote.

“
“They would be removed off our books,” he said. “They may completely be
shifted from our responsibility to the federal government.”
“

Yeah, make all the other suckers pay the tab. That’s the ticket.
(/sarc)

1. School district instead of the state,
2. Worked for their health benefits...

From the article:
"allowed to purchase months of free care with their remaining, unused sick days...one month of free health care for every three days...
...he had 300 sick days (or) 100 months of free health care.
Many of the state's retired teachers are in their 50s...If a national care provider would drop the minimum coverage age, these teachers would be eligible for the national health plan.
"They would be removed off our books," he said. "They may completely be shifted from our responsibility to the federal government."

So:
a. The scam is to transfer from both state and local to a national health care plan. Since you can already buy health insurance at any age, that "plan" means Medicare - made possible by federal tax dollars & current democrat intent.
b. They didn't "work for their health benefits". The state gave them a trade off for not reporting sick and then hid the cost in the future instead of actually funding the policies at the time of retirement. They shifted short term salary/severance (cost of a sick day) into future retiree benefits.
Not to mention retirement with pay after something like 3/4 of 20 years effort.
Not to mention the "300 retained sick days" - that would have taken 50 years to build up under any employer I ever worked for.

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