COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Akron Police Department is understaffed, but the city's mayor is rejecting the latest bipartisan effort that aims to solve the problem. Mayor Shammas Malik, joined by a dozen other city leaders Monday, argued that Ohio legislation to bulk up the police pension fund could cause immense financial restraints that may lead to wage decreases or layoffs.
There are fewer boots on the ground, longer working hours, and delays for residents who need emergency services.
"Ohio is in the midst of a recruiting and retention crisis for law enforcement officers," Ohio Fraternal Order of Police President Jay McDonald said.
It's an issue Akron has been facing for years. Even after a successful recruitment, they are still short 40 officers, McDonald said.
"More dangerous today than it ever has been," he added.
News 5 Investigators first told you how the city's police officers were leaving the force at an alarming rate more than two years ago in our exclusive investigative series "Dangerously Understaffed."
RELATED: Dangerously Understaffed
This problem could be exacerbated by the pension fund troubles. Right now, The Ohio Police and Fire Pension Fund (OP&F) needs to get more money, or it will need to cut benefits.
McDonald, who is also the Marion Police Chief, said a bill passed out of the Pensions Committee would help fix both issues.
"It's security in exchange for the risk that you take over a 30-year career — the promise is that you'll have retirement security after your career is over," he said.
Republican state Reps. Cindy Abrams (Harrison) and Thomas Hall (Madison Twp.) introduced House Bill 296. It would increase employer contributions to the OP&F, raising city-input from 19.5% to 24% for police in a span of six years. It would also raise employee contributions from 12.25% to 12.5% in 2030.
The bill passed out of the Pensions Committee 12-3 and will be on the House floor in December.
RELATED: Ohio bill could solve police understaffing, but it comes at a cost
The required employer contribution is an amount equal to a percentage of each employee’s salary. Right now, cities pay 24% into the fund for full-time professional firefighters, so H.B. 296 would just make the cities pay an equitable amount for the full-time municipal police officers. Employer contributions haven’t been raised since the 1980s.
"Not only is that fair, but it helps the solvency of the fund," Retired Columbus police officer Mike Weinman said.
But the price of fund solvency may bankrupt cities.
A group of local officials with the Ohio Mayors Alliance (OMA), which represents the 30 largest cities in the state, and the Ohio Municipal League (OML), which represents 900 municipalities, met Monday to express their opposition to the bill.
"This bill makes it harder for us to make investments in safety," Akron Mayor Shammas Malik said.
According to research done by the OMA, cities pay half a billion into the pension fund annually, with $300 million coming from just the top 30 largest municipalities. With H.B. 296, a total of more than $80 million would be imposed across all cities.
This means that Columbus would pay an additional $15 million, Cleveland with $5.5 million and Cincinnati with $4.6 million, OMA's research said. Lower down the totem poll is Akron, with OMA showing $1.75 million, but Malik said it will end up being about $2.2 million.
"We're seeing cost pressures and negotiations to make sure people are paid well," Malik said. "It's a huge amount of money that we have to find somewhere."
Akron passed its 2024 operating budget in March — $815 million.
"I mean, $2.2 million a year on a budget is not easy, no matter what size of community you are," he said.
The mayor believes they've recently been successful at recruitment because Akron, among other reasons, gave raises and paid cadets. But they may need to cut down on pay — or on officers — or even raise taxes on residents if the new funding requirement passes.
"I'm hoping that the legislature will not take us down that path," he said. "But I think those are things that are possible."
Malik isn't anti-employer contributions; he just doesn't like that it is being done at the end of the year during the General Assembly's lame duck period. Lame duck is when bills are passed as quickly as possible because they will die if not sent to the governor's desk by the end of the year.
Some iteration of this bill has been around for four years, McDonald argued, and that just because this is happening now doesn't mean that it is rushed.
"Public safety is the priority of the citizens and therefore it should be the priority of the mayors," McDonald said.
Other mayors were more forceful in their disapproval.
"This bill would devastate public safety in our communities," Toledo Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz said, noting that the proposed increased cost to the fund would be like laying off more than 40 officers. "It would cause police and firefighters to be paid less well, and it would cause there to be fewer of them."
Leaders of smaller cities, like Elyria, say they can't justify laying off police, so that means that their budget would then require them to get rid of other city staff members who help residents.
"This unfunded mandate would kill my budget," Elyria Mayor Kevin Brubaker said. "I'm not in a position to support this in any way, shape or form."
The costs for public safety can already be as much as 70% of a city’s total budget, OMA said.
"We are all trying to invest in safety," Malik said. "I'm not against fully funding the pension, not against higher employer contributions — but against doing it in a rush in lame duck without cities at the table."
Weinman doesn't agree that this is happening without city involvement at all, considering he has been working on it for four years.
"Government's number one priority is the safety of its citizens," Weinman said. "That's where the investment should be going."
Akron's problem
Malik said that pension isn't the only reason why people aren't joining the force.
"There is a higher level of scrutiny on police across the nation than there was 10 years ago or 20 years ago," he said.
The city just reached a roughly $4.85 million settlement with the family of Jayland Walker, a 25-year-old who was shot nearly 50 times by eight Akron police after a traffic stop and pursuit in 2022.
The latest news about the police shooting of Jayland Walker, the protests that followed and the community's calls for change.
A grand jury didn't indict the officers, but last year, APD told us it has been difficult to recruit since the shooting.
"On our recruitment efforts last night, we did have approximately a half dozen people who were previously signed up to take our entrance exam, call in and say, 'Hey, with everything going on, they've decided or declined to pursue it at this time,'" APD spokesperson Michael Miller said in 2023. "So it had some impact."
That being said, some of their newest graduates got involved because of Walker. New officer Melanie Bailey said that case is part of the reason that she wants to make a difference in her hometown as a law enforcement officer.
"Knowing that, it makes me feel more confident as a woman and as a citizen of the city of Akron to step into a position like that," Bailey said in March.
McDonald, while not casting blame on the officers in the 2022 shooting, said that increasing the pension contributions can help inspire great future police or encourage vets to stay on the force.
"The more we increase standards, the more we increase paperwork, the more we increase expectations, the more we increase the cost — the increased cost involves attracting the best police officers," McDonald said. "If you want the best, the most professional — it costs money."
Malik said he understands and wants a department that is "effective and accountable," but that "We have to work within the constraints that we're in."
Keeping a safe pension
Not unique to OP&F, the fund has more retirees and beneficiaries than active members who are paying in. Thus, intergenerational equity could be off. Simplified, this means that there may not be equal treatment in pension financing between generations.
However, there were massive benefit changes in 2012, when the retirement age for first responders was raised from 48 to 52, cost of living adjustments (COLAs) were eliminated until members turned 55 and said COLAs were capped at 3%.
According to the bill sponsors, this led to a $3.2 billion decrease in unfunded liabilities.
Something needs to change for the pension to continue to be healthy, McDonald explained. Thus, H.B. 296 was born.
Although OMA, OML and their members didn't have a fix, they did float other possibilities — such as suspending or restricting the cost-of-living adjustment (COLA).
"I think that that's something that should be discussed with the full analysis because it is a significant portion of the annual cost — I believe it's about a third of the annual payout," Findlay Mayor Christina Muryn said.
After I asked OML's Kent Scarrett about the slashing of the local government fund, he said that more funding for that won't help because the pension system in itself is broken.
"We have independent analysis and actuarial work outside of the systems to really get a full unbiased perspective of how the system is performing before we invest more dollars in that program," Scarrett said, giving a plan.
What's broken? The COLA, he said.
"I think we need to look at the strategic focus of the fund itself to make sure that it's on target," he added.
Déjà vu
It's not just OP&F that wants more money — and they aren't the only one that has concerns about the legitimacy of their investing ability.
The retired teachers' pension fund, the one that I have been covering constantly for a year, is making moves to ask employers to pay more to their fund.
State Teachers Retirement System (STRS) plans to ask lawmakers to increase their employer contributions — which also haven't been updated in decades.
Unlike police and fire, though, STRS members don't have as much of a COLA.
Also, unlike police and fire, STRS is in constant chaos.
RELATED: Here's the new interim head of the retired teachers' pension fund
OP&F also has some drama with STRS, as do the other four pension funds in Ohio.
Ohio police officers are urging lawmakers not to punish them and the rest of the retirees for the controversy going on inside STRS. Statehouse Republicans proposed combining all five public systems to cut costs and stop alleged corruption.
RELATED: ‘Don’t lump us in’ — Ohio police reject GOP’s pension system overhaul due to teachers’ controversy
The cities are now trying to get an independent evaluation of the performance of the fund, much like a group of STRS retirees have tried for years.
In summary, there has been constant fighting, two board resignations and allegations of both a public corruption scheme and mishandling of funds.
Moving forward
McDonald feels good about going into the House vote on Wednesday. If passed, the bill will be sent over to the Senate.
"We think senators understand how important this is to the communities they serve," he said. "I think the election results all over the state will help show that public safety and security is at the top of voters' minds."
If it passes, cities like Akron will be back at the Statehouse.
"They can expect to see us back here listing out exactly where those harms were and telling the state that we need more support," Malik said.
At the end of the day, McDonald said there shouldn't be a price for safety.
"Will this bill help put more officers on the streets?" I asked the chief.
"Yes," he answered plainly.
Follow WEWS statehouse reporter Morgan Trau on Twitter and Facebook.
