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Highway Patrol Retirement System cites small active base, COLA affordability tests
Summary
Carl Rourke, executive director of the Ohio Highway Patrol Retirement System, told the committee HPRS is a single‑employer fund with roughly 1,400 active members and about 1,600 retirees; he described a funding policy that assesses negative amortization and stress‑tests COLA affordability.
Carl Rourke, executive director of the Ohio Highway Patrol Retirement System (HPRS), told the House Public Insurance and Pensions Committee that HPRS is distinct among Ohio systems as a single‑employer fund serving only Ohio State Highway Patrol troopers.
"We're the single employer pension fund and serve only the active and retired ranks of the Ohio State Highway Patrol troopers," Rourke said. He reported roughly $1.1 billion in assets, nearly 1,600 retirees (including about 162 disability retirees) and just over 1,400 active members contributing to the system.
Rourke described a funding policy — adopted with actuarial assistance — that includes a negative‑amortization assessment and a stress test to determine when COLA is affordable. He said the policy guides the board’s uniquely delegated authority to set COLA and active contribution rates. That approach has helped reduce HPRS’s amortization period to below 20 years, he said, but COLA has been awarded in only 2 of the past 6 years owing to affordability assessments.
On health care, Rourke said HPRS recently moved from a self‑insured model to a health reimbursement arrangement (HRA), which solved significant solvency issues and immediately improved average member benefits. The last allocation to HPRS’s health‑care fund took place in 2022 and Rourke said there is no current plan to allocate additional funds in the foreseeable future.
Committee members asked about the role of Medicare in covering retired troopers and how HRA allowances interact with other employer coverage. Rourke said Medicare provides the bulk of care at age 65 and that the HRA is designed to bridge the gap between retirement and Medicare eligibility; the HRA rolls over if the retiree does not use the full allowance and can build to offset future marketplace costs.
Rourke closed by reiterating that COLA remains the largest ongoing challenge for HPRS and that the board has appointed a special COLA committee to study potential improvements.
