LIMA — The State Teachers Retirement System will distribute one-time supplemental benefits to retirees in December as inflation relief, the pension fund’s acting executive director said during a town hall in Lima on Wednesday.
The STRS board approved the one-time supplemental payments during its October meeting to assist retirees with “inflation and the economic realities that are affecting many of us,” said Lynn Hoover, acting executive director and chief financial officer.
The $94 billion pension fund, whose 545,000 members include 156,000 retirees and 174,000 teachers currently paying into the system, is in turmoil amid resignations and a lawsuit from Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost.
Hoover visited the Lima Public Library on Wednesday to reassure retirees and teachers their pensions are “safe and secure.”
“Your monthly pension will hit your account every month,” she said. “Our plan is better off than we’ve been in some time.”
Retirees who started receiving benefits from the STRS in or prior to January should receive a one-time supplemental payment by mid-December.
Benefits will be calculated at an estimated rate of $40 per year of service and each full year of retirement, Hoover said.
STRS will notify eligible retirees next month.
Retirees have not received a cost-of-living adjustment since the STRS board approved a 1% adjustment in May 2023. The board approved a 3% cost-of-living adjustment and lowered the retirement age in March 2022.
Members may now collect reduced benefits after 29 years of service and full benefits after 34 years.
The STRS board will consider another cost-of-living raise next spring, Hoover said when asked if the one-time inflation payments will replace a cost-of-living adjustment this year.
Hoover said the supplemental benefits have a shorter waiting period than cost-of-living adjustments, and payouts are greater for retirees who have been out of the workforce the longest.