COLUMBUS — State lawmakers want to know why Dayton police officers and firefighters have taken disability retirements at a higher rate than their counterparts in other large Ohio cities.

It is a longtime trend for the city and has led one state senator to suggest cities like Dayton with extraordinarily high disability rates for their employees should pay more. “Is it fair that Columbus or Cincinnati is subsidizing Dayton’s workplace practices? Should we have a surcharge for extraordinary disability rates?” said state Sen. Keith Faber, R-Celina, chairman of the bipartisan Ohio Retirement Study Council.

“The whole issue demands that we put some accountability on local governments,” said state Rep. Lynn Wachtmann, R-Napoleon, who is an ORSC member.

Dayton’s high rate was criticized Wednesday during an Ohio Retirement Study Council (ORSC) meeting. The funds cover 1.7 million workers, retirees and beneficiaries and have $165 billion in investments.

Forecasts are that the funds may not be able to afford all their obligations in decades to come unless some modifications are made now to reduce benefits, raise contributions or both.

The Ohio Police & Fire Pension Fund reported that 2.03 percent of Dayton police and firefighters retired on disabilities last year, compared with 0.59 percent in Columbus, 0.68 percent in Cleveland, 0.37 percent in Cincinnati, 0.93 percent in Toledo and 0.74 percent in Akron.

Dayton spokesman Tom Biedenharn did not return telephone messages seeking comment. Dayton City Commissioner Nan Whaley said it doesn’t make sense to penalize the city, which has no control over how disability pensions are awarded.

“It is as much a mystery to us. It is a concern to us, but I don’t know how we could go about finding out why we are so much higher,” Whaley said. “If I were the pension system, I’d investigate why Dayton is so much higher.”

She said Dayton officials would be happy to cooperate with pension fund officials to investigate the matter.

Faber said the bigger question is why 34 percent of the cops and firefighters statewide retire on a disability pension while only 9 percent of state highway troopers do so.

A Dayton Daily News investigation last year found that between 2000 and 2010, 48 percent of Dayton police and firefighters retired on disabilities while 32 percent of Montgomery County Sheriff’s deputies did so.

Recent data from the Ohio Public Employees Retirement System show that 36 percent of law enforcement retire on a disability.

The Ohio Public Employees Retirement System covers sheriff’s deputies while the Ohio Police & Fire Pension Fund covers police officers, firefighters and paramedics.

Disability pensions are often more generous than regular retirements.

The Internal Revenue Service rules exempt from federal taxes on-duty disability awards of up to 60 percent of final average pay. And state law allows for an on-duty disability pension if the public safety worker develops heart or lung disease during their career, regardless of whether they smoke, eat poorly or fail to exercise.

The pension funds on Wednesday reported on their disability trends to the ORSC.

Faber and other council members grilled pension fund officials about the disability rates.

OP&F Director William Estabrook, a former Dayton city manager, defended his system but noted that cities would benefit from instituting health and wellness programs to prevent injuries and illnesses.

Lawmakers are considering an overhaul of public employee pension laws that will require workers to work longer and accept less-generous pension checks and will ask retirees to accept lower cost-of-living increases.

Faber said it is important to root out any abuses in the pension systems as lawmakers ask workers and retirees to make sacrifices.

The Ohio Senate is considering four bills — one for each of the four largest pension systems.

Proposed changes in programs

The state legislation calls for the following changes in the disability programs:

Ohio Police & Fire Pension Fund: Require that disabilities caused by heart and lung diseases be permanent before disability benefits are granted. Give the OP&F Board authority to grant these heart and lung disability awards without a requiring a pre-employment exam.

State Teachers Retirement System: Require 10 years of service before new worker is eligible for disability pensions, up from five years, and cut the time they may apply for a disability to one year, down from two years.

School Employees Retirement System: Terminate disability benefits if the disability was caused by committing a felony. Require those eligible for Social Security disability insurance to apply for it. Recipients will be considered on a leave of absence for three years, down from the current five years. Deny disability benefits if the member is receiving a disability from any other Ohio public pension system.

Ohio Public Employees Retirement System: Ex-clude coverage for a disability that results from cosmetic surgery or for a disability acquired while committing a felony. Require those eligible for Social Security disability insurance to apply for it. Terminate disability benefits if the recipient is not physically or mentally incapable of doing other jobs that pay at least 75 percent of what they had been making and that the member is qualified to do.

The Fraternal Order of Police of Ohio opposes PERS’ move to terminate disability benefits for law enforcement officers if they can perform other jobs, said Mark Drum, FOP Ohio’s legislative chairman.

He noted that this type of proposed change would take away disability benefits from someone like Michael Weinman, a Columbus police officer paralyzed in the line of duty, who now works for the FOP Ohio. Weinman is on a disability retirement from OP&F, not OPERS.