OSFA ARCHIVE

Here’s a bit of history you may or may not know about your association: today, have all been done at your expense, and your expense alone. If you want to change that you had better be at our offices in OKC making sure your voice is heard, and don’t let anyone who is not yet shouldering the load pull the wool over your eyes with their own stories of woe.

The 10th Annual Convention of the Oklahoma & Indian Territory Firemen’s Association (May 7-9, 1903, in Ardmore) was the first held in Indian Territory.

Because of its geographical location and the fact that Ardmore had but one railroad, all the delegates arrived on a southbound Santa Fe passenger before daylight of the first day set for the convention.

Forming in columns of two, the firemen marched from the depot to the fire department headquarters where they received a cordial and hilarious welcome by the local firemen.

In the revision of the Constitution, provision was made for the payment of a salary of $25 a year to the Secretary (the position now known as Executive Director).

The association also authorized the Secretary to have a seal designed for the association.

On to the active volunteers. I am sorry. I had hoped I could do more. As a career fireman I am not here to pretend that I understand all of the difficulties you face, especially in light of funding, recruitment, and training. I am sure there are a litany of other issues that effect those three, but those seem to be the three I hear the most.

As far as funding, if you are a member of a struggling volunteer department, ultimately it will come down to what your local community is willing to pay (on a regular recurring basis) to have a fire department. They are already getting your time for free.

I think the reality is, if your communities are satisfied with the responses that they are getting for what they pay in dues, taxes, or whatever funding mechanism they utilize, they are unlikely to pay more. Cities do the same thing to paid departments. It seems to me that until the call is made, and no one shows up because there is no one to show up, or no equipment to use, or no one that knows what to do even if the other two are present, nothing will change.

I know that you all love this thing we do and it isn’t about the money for you. There is part of me that is jealous of that. There is some freedom in not being paid and doing it simply for the love of the calling.

I’m not suggesting that volunteers shouldn’t fight fire if they are not paid. Rural communities can’t sustain a paid model without an umbrella of government payroll. I am suggesting that these communities pay what it takes for the overhead not counting payroll. Payroll is the most expensive element of most any organization. If a community does not have to pay that, they should at least pay the necessary upkeep and maintenance for equipment and training. That means taxes of some kind or another, the catch 22 being none of us want to pay them either. Perhaps there are other answers out there, but it is up to you to generate that idea.

On another note, about volunteers, I think autonomy and identity play a large role in the culture of volunteer departments. That is, being able to do things the way you want to do it, when you want to do it, and where. I recognize that value.

Consider this, if a funding source (a significant funding source), different than what you are used to, that required you to give up some of these elements but promised consistent substantial funding, would you and your organization be willing to accept those terms?

This possibility may not exist for all of Oklahoma’s rural volunteer fire service, but for those within the boundaries of tribal reservations it might. Like everything there would be a price to consider.

For our retirees and their representatives at ORFA. It has been an interesting year, but simply put the repeated message our board has received is that you want a COLA. I do admire your tenacity.

I’ve spent a fair amount of time reading over “OSFA: First 40 years and Last Few Decades.” I wish I had read it four years ago, and I would suggest that all current board members, or those entertaining the idea of becoming one, do so. There is some insight to be gained from the history. This piece is supposed to be about concerns of the future. So, what do I think the future holds for ORFA? Stated most concisely, COLAs will be more difficult, and there will be generational strife. There are a couple of different reasons.

Most of the baby boomers who were in the end of their careers in the late 90s through 2000s are retired. They will live longer, and so will their surviving spouse. They were the first beneficiaries of plan B and they were board members of OSFA when it went into effect. They had the opportunity to both build and enjoy that benefit.

At the same time, they consistently lobbied for and received COLAs while plan B germinated and began to grow exponentially. Although red flags about the unfunded liability unlimited compounding would create were there, no action to address the problem was taken. The hot potato was laid off on the next generation.

Then a couple of environmental factors took place. One was the dot com bubble of 2002 and the financial crisis of 2008, the other was a wholesale shift of the political landscape in Oklahoma at about the same time.

I used to think the latter was the reason to blame for the lack of COLAs for retirees during the later part of that time to the present. Now I believe that although that played a factor, it was only a flashlight on the inability to sustain plan B long term as it was in the mature stage of the benefit.

I’ve started to think the real reason COLAs fell off is because they brought attention to the issues of unchecked unlimited upside compounding. Pushing for COLAs drew attention to the shaky ground plan b was on. Nothing in earnest was done to address the problem (because to address the problem meant to decrease their own benefit) until 2012, when an attempt was made.

However, it wasn’t until nearly 10 years after the 2008 collapse before anything was really done.

The solution proposed was that from then forward, everyone would have to draw their interest and transfer it to another vehicle. Everyone would shoulder the load together, past retirees who ignored the problem to their own benefit, current members who had worked a substantial amount of their career with the expectation of the benefit, and newer members who were early in their career with time to plan for the future, and while it did not sit well with anyone, it did put us on a course to meaningfully decreasing the unfunded liability of plan B and keeping those same liabilities from eating away at plan A or destroying plan A altogether with a run on the bank.

Then came the lawsuit and where we stand today. Those unfunded liabilities are still eating away at plan A while the suit crawls forward, and a major generational divide has been created between those who had 20 years in the system as of Sept. 11, 2017, and those who did not.

A better way to look at it might be those who started before Sept. 11, 1997, and those who started on Sept. 12, 1997. Those who did are currently enjoying the benefits of unlimited compounding, those who don’t are facing mandatory distributions of interest.

Once aspects of the lawsuit pointed toward the pre ’17 retirees keeping their compounding and post ‘17 retirees loosing it, the COLA battle cry resumed.

There will be another group of unhappy retirees around 2028 to 2038 as that cohort of future retirees realizes what has been done to them, as well.

So, what does that all mean for the future of ORFA and the future of COLAs? What it means is that ORFA should be pressing for funding from outside of the pension fund to fund the COLAs.

Instead of taking the easy road of simply demanding a COLA that adds to the unfunded liability of the system through exceptions to OPLAAA and born on the back of those hired after Sept. 12, 1997.

One more thing, know that those hired after ‘97 have, or are approaching 25 years in the system en masse. They will likely have 30 or more by the time the suit is resolved. They see you, and that number will increase every day. Don’t be surprised or angry when their only concern is taking care of themselves.

After all, like the old 1980s PSA said, “We learned it by watching you, Dad.”