Baltimore County set an example for the state by amending its retirement plan earlier this year. As of this month, the system raised the retirement age and extended the number of years necessary for a county employee to work before becoming vested in its system.
We suggested to the county structural changes that would have put public sector pensions in line with private sector retirement plans, but those are solid ways to ensure the county can manage an estimated $2 billionliability and maintain its coveted AAA bond rating.
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Preventing people from entering the system before the July deadline is not ? especially when the man responsible for the system, Fred Homan, just won a 36 percent raise and whose pension was not altered in the fiscal housekeeping process.
Lora Williams, president of a union representing transportation and other school support employees, said more than 300 employees have been waiting up to a year to join the retirement system in what should be a 30 to 90 day process.
Because of the delay they will join the system under the new rules. The hold up? Physicals ? necessary to enroll in the system. But the issue isn?t whether employees received them, but who administered them.
The county refused to accept federally-approved physicals for those employees who needed them to earn commercial drivers licenses. It also would not accept physicals from a contracted provider ? Concentra Inc. ? because the company could not guarantee a doctor would examine patients every time, county spokesman Don Mohler told The Examiner.
So now employees must go to Occupational Medical Services for a physical, which the county contracted without a bid on an emergency basis. The county could not provide information in time for press about how much the new contract cost taxpayers or how much it spent with Concentra.
But Williams said the physicals cost about $300 apiece, which translates to about $600 to $1,200 per person as some people will have to make four doctor?s visits.
Something smells.
If the intent is to save money, the county is not doing a good job given the cost of the physicals. And if ensuring a doctor saw every patient was so important from the start, why didn?t the person responsible for the contract with Concentra ask? And couldn?t the county request that service instead of dropping them and purchasing a new contract under emergency ? and likely expensive ? terms?
Employees don?t need the county to tell them to save money and should have regardless of whether they were enrolled in a plan or not. But the county should do the right thing and contribute to their retirement plans for the time they should have been enrolled. Mr. Homan must also explain why the county contracted with OMS and why that was the fiscally and medically responsible thing to do. Right now, none of the decisions make sense.
