For Sam Howell, paying back the Public Employees Retirement System could mean the loss of his recreational vehicle, which his family uses to drive grandchildren around the country.
"I feel betrayed by PERS," said Howell, a retired teacher living in Central Point. "They're reneging on what they said they'd pay. It's not fair. When you retire, it's a contract, but out of the blue they said they're taking it away. I'm going to get the short end of the stick."
All over Oregon, thousands of retired public employees have begun to receive letters explaining how their pension benefits have been recalculated. Some won't know for many months how much their checks will be reduced. Some are being told they owe the state money.
Former Eagle Point teacher Judy Mayfield said she would not have retired as early as she did, had she known she'd have less to live on than what was agreed upon at retirement.
"I don't feel it's fair because now retired people have no chance to go back and work (to build up their account)," she said. "But my husband is retired on PERS also, so we aren't hurting."
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"The PERS debacle is just another attack on teachers specifically and public employees generally," Howell wrote in an e-mail to the Mail Tribune.
He added, "Too often, those who are the most critical (of PERS retirees) are those who made bad choices about careers when they were younger and are the first to say, 'I don't feel sorry for them because I don't have a retirement check.'"
Howell objected to having no control over how much PERS pays him in interest — or over how much PERS takes back. He compared it to a bank telling customers it miscalculated interest and "one can only imagine the laughter if the bank expected the account holder to give the interest back."
PERS retiree Michael Bauman of Talent, though not affected by the "paybacks," complained that now his benefit increase is limited to 8 percent — and he has decided to try to do better in private mutual funds.
"It felt like a bit of a ripoff," he said. "We used to have income that paralleled the market and we should receive the benefit of a strong market.
"I have the potential to make more than 8 percent, though the risk is greater."
His Medford investment counselor, who asked not to be named, said "PERS really did mess up a bit. They didn't prepare for the market downturn in '01 and '02, so they paid out more than they had and now they're trying to get it back. I'm getting clients who say 'I'm getting out of that and will manage it myself' by putting it in other institutions that are much larger and more experienced."
Retired teacher Leona Bransom of Central Point said the reductions in her monthly retirement check have not affected her at all because she substitute teaches almost every day and enjoys being in the classroom.
"I accept PERS' explanation, but I feel you shouldn't go back and try to change history," she said. "PERS should say 'it's done and let's go from here.' It's not fair. I'm shaking about what it (reductions) might do to me. But life is life. I could get all upset about it, but that would just make me older."
John Darling is a freelance writer living in Ashland. E-mail him at jdarling@jeffnet.org.
