State has questions about troubled Omaha teacher retirement plan

The plan covers 15,000 people, a majority of them teachers.
Published: Jul. 15, 2024 at 6:25 PM CDT
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OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) - In six weeks, the state is poised to take over the troubled retirement plan for Omaha school employees.

A major concern is who is on the hook for more management.

Might it be the taxpayers?

The Omaha Public Schools pension plan covers 15,000 people -- mostly teachers.

The Nebraska Public Employees Retirement Systems takes over management of the pension in 6 weeks.

Many are concerned with a recent state audit showing glaring overpayments to retired teachers to the tune of $1.6 million, in a small random sample size of 25 people who are in the plan.

“We need to make sure to keep the promises made to the teachers of Omaha Public Schools that the money will be there upon retirement -- and that the money going out the door is going out correctly and efficiently -- and I don’t have a lot of confidence that it’s happening right now,” John Murante, director of NPERS said.

State Auditor Mike Foley has been raising flags for more than a year regarding overpayments, underpayments -- vanishing dollars -- or just bad math.

In one case, an employee who already cashed out got an extra $53,000 check. Another employee lost $23,000 in accrued interest.

The system was unaware that three people had died.

The board, who will soon be managing the plan, wants to know how it will be on the hook if these problems aren’t fixed.

“I don’t think taxpayers, at the end of the day, are going to be responsible for this. These are costs born to the Omaha teacher plan, and that’s where the solution is going to come from,” Murante said.

The CFO of the Omaha plan says that there will be strong procedures in place to prevent these mistakes by the time the state takes over in six weeks.

But, an IT employee said just getting the employee data from OPS is 12 weeks behind schedule.