Cincinnati Pension Fund

Securing the future: Reforming the Cincinnati Retirement System

On March 16, 2011, Cincinnati City Council approved a package of reforms recommended by the Cincinnati Retirement System (CRS) Board of Trustees that experts say are required to keep the CRS solvent.

The $2.1 billion CRS — the combined pension fund and retiree health care plan — faces a $1 billion-plus long-term shortfall that could grow to $1.5 billion in five years. Unless major changes are implemented now, CRS could be depleted by 2028, consultants have told the city.

Council needs to return the CRS to firm financial ground so that retirees, and current and future employees, are assured that it is there when they need it – and to do it in a way that is fair to them and to the taxpaying citizens of Cincinnati. The changes affect pensions and health care for 7,500 current retirees and city employees, and future employees. Without the changes, the cost to the city to meet pension payments would consume the general fund.

In November 2010 the newly-reconstituted CRS Board of Trustees presented recommendations — including raising the retirement age, capping benefits, and increasing the employee and retiree contribution to health care — to ensure the stability of the system for current and future retirees. After a series of public meetings on the proposals, the board adopted the recommendations on February 3, 2011.

Read the CRS report to council and final recommendations for stabilizing the system here.