Government spending

Miami Twp. to halt illegal pension pay

Trustees, fiscal officer will have to repay funds provided since 2009.

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By Andrew J. Tobias and Lawrence Budd
Staff Writers Updated 10:32 AM Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Miami Twp. will stop paying its elected officials’ shares of their retirement contributions through a practice the Ohio Auditor’s Office has said is illegal.

The trustees voted 3-0 Tuesday to stop the practice and repay the last three years’ pension pickups, although the township had picked up the employee portion since 2004. Auditors were only allowed to go back three years, officials said.

“What other options have we got?” Trustee Charles Lewis said, noting this will result in him paying too much to his ex-wife in a settlement reached prior to the auditor’s ruling. “I disagree with them.”

Doug Trout, an assistant prosecutor with the Montgomery County Prosecutor’s Office, said the township would otherwise face a finding for recovery from the state which could be referred for prosecution.

Township administration will work out plans for trustees Lewis, Mike Nolan and Deborah Preston, and fiscal officer Judy Lewis to pay back retirement contributions made since 2009.

The auditor’s office in late January told the township to stop making the payments after the Dayton Daily News questioned the practice. Township officials said at the time prosecutors were reviewing the contributions and negotiating with the state over what to do.

Miami Twp. was the only remaining township in Montgomery County that paid its elected officials’ 10 percent share toward their retirements. Local governments already contribute 14 percent of workers’ salaries, including trustees, for the employers’ share of pension contributions.

The newspaper contacted each township in Montgomery County shortly after the state auditor in January ordered four officials in Butler Twp. to repay taxpayers for about $21,000 in retirement contributions made through an identical practice. The state auditor said those contributions were illegal since elected officials’ compensation is capped under Ohio law.

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