Thursday, March 16, 2000
Lebanon blocked in refund attempt
BY CINDI ANDREWS
The Cincinnati Enquirer
LEBANON — The city might not see the $280,114 it's trying to recover from the state retirement system anytime soon — if ever — despite a request for the return of the money.
City Council on Tuesday said retired City Auditor Debbie Biggs and electric department head Robert Newton were not eligible for electric department buyouts. The buyouts, council said, were only for members of Local 648, which negotiated a contract with the city that included the retirement incentive plan.
But that's against state law, Mrs. Biggs' attorney, Tom Kahle, said Wednesday. Such plans can't be offered to only part of a work group.
An official at the Public Employees Retirement System, which received the buyout money on behalf of the employees, is inclined to interpret the law as Mr. Kahle does. The city's request will likely “trigger an inquiry” at PERS, said Bill Damsel, benefits administrator.
“It sounds like they may be drawing a line where a line does not exist,” said Mr. Damsel, who had not seen the ordinance. “They can't do it just by certain positions within the department.”
Lebanon officials have been trying since January to recover the early retirement money it paid for Mrs. Biggs ($110,565), Mr. Newton ($169,549) and retired City Attorney Bill Duning ($206,302). All three retired Dec. 31.
City Council members said they didn't realize they had appropriated money for the buyouts, and they questioned the city auditor's and city attorney's eligibility for the electric department buyouts.
The matter, which caused a public outcry, was referred to the Ohio Ethics Commission in January.
PERS officials said earlier that if the city decided the three were not eligible, PERS would return the money. However, eligibility is based on who was considered an employee of the electric department, Mr. Damsel said Wednesday — not who was in the union.
“Now that the bill's been calculated and all these things, they're trying to go back and come up with some rationale on how they can get themselves out of it,” he said.
But Bill Gustavson, a Cincinnati attorney Lebanon hired to help with the case, said the Ohio Revised Code also says city legislative bodies may decide who's eligible for incentive plans.
Mrs. Biggs and Mr. Duning have said they thought they were eligible because they did a lot of work for the electric department.
“Debbie Biggs ... absolutely deserves the payment that was made,” Mr. Kahle said. “She relied on the city manager's determination that she was eligible under that plan.”
Mr. Duning withdrew from the plan last month, freeing PERS to return his money to Lebanon. But the other two retirees have refused to give back their buyouts.
Mr. Newton's attorney said Wednesday that he had not spoken to his client about the ordinance.
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