Police and Fire Pension Costs Loom Over Ohio Towns

Pension contribution need to rise by 50 percent and debt payments must quintuple

Local governments statewide would need to increase their pension contributions for police and firefighters by more than 50 percent if they ever hope to pay off $7.3 billion in debts that threaten the solvency of the public safety retirement system.

The amount they're paying toward those debts would need to quintuple to get the municipalities back on track, according to a new study.