Though “double dipping” is commonly frowned upon when it comes to food, Ohio lawmakers are debating whether public employees’ “double dipping” into state funds hurts taxpayers.
Double dipping refers to public employees who have retired and are receiving retirement benefits, but who return to work and earn a paycheck on top of their benefits.
Late last year Ohio Rep. Rex Damschroder, R-81st, introduced House Bill 388, which would suspend retirement benefits for any Ohio government worker who reenters the public sector.
The bill is awaiting its first hearing in the Ohio House of Representatives, Damschroder said.
“They’re working the system to get more money after retirement,” Damschroder said.
“Some people out there retire and then go right back to work. This bill speci?cally is designed to prevent people from retiring and then being rehired just to make more money.”
Athens City Schools Superintendent Carl Martin said the district utilizes the practice as a cost-cutting option because teachers who are rehired after retirement are paid substantially less than they were before retirement, as they return to the district with entry-level salaries and benefits regardless of what they were paid before retiring.
Over the past three years, five teachers have been rehired to work in the district, Martin said.
“In general, if a teacher retires and they later want to be rehired, it’s a pretty substantial cost savings (to do so),” Martin said. “They go from being a costly employee to a much cheaper employee.”
The Ohio Education Association, the union that represents teachers in Athens City Schools, opposes the bill, said William Leibensperger, vice president of the association.
“It’s an unnecessary piece of legislation. If the people at local levels think that (‘double dipping’) is the best decision, then they should be able to do that,” Leibensperger said. “(The bill) claims to save taxpayer money, but it really penalizes individuals who are collecting a benefit that has already been earned.”
Damschroder said that although he saw several other problems with the state’s retirement program, this is a step toward creating a more viable retirement system that can last into the future.
“This is one of several holes that needs to be plugged so that people who actually work their 30 or 35 years are ?nancially set when they retire,” he said. “I don’t condemn people who double dip, because they’re obeying the law, but I am condemning lawmakers for having the public retirement system work this way.”
State Sen. Lou Gentile, D-30th, and State Rep. Debbie Phillips, D-92nd, could not be reached for comment.
jj360410@ohiou.edu
