MIRS article related to a OPEB issue.

In case you didn’t see it, there was a recent article in MIRS quoting Governor Snyder as suggesting municipal retirement health care reforms could be considered during the upcoming lame duck legislative session. This is an issue that the League has identified as a key cost driver for communities (www.SaveMICity.org) and is a major area of interest for our members.

While there are only between nine and eleven session days currently scheduled and no bills or proposals to react to, we are monitoring this issue very closely and working to ensure that should any proposal surface, municipal concerns and fiscal stresses will be at the forefront of the debate.

In terms of background on this issue: for over a year now, the Michigan Municipal League has been advocating for the need to reform the state’s municipal finance system. The League Board of Trustees approved a platform of municipal finance reform centered around cost, structure, and revenue.

The single biggest cost reform identified by our members is the need to restructure our retiree health care obligation, commonly known as OPEB – “Other Post-Employment Benefit”. The data (view pie chart and go here) supports what our members have repeatedly told us: the escalating costs of providing retiree health care benefits, not pensions, are the biggest impediment and greatest threat to investing in their communities.

We will continue to keep members updated if there are any developments along this topic.

(Posted by Matt Bach, League director of media relations, on behalf of Chris Hackbarth).

Please feel free to contact Chris Hackbarth if you have any questions: 517-908-0304 and chackbarth@mml.org.