b'City of Dover Tuscarawas County, Ohio Notes to the Basic Financial Statements For the Year Ended December 31, 2018 Note 15Defined Benefit Pension PlansThe Statewide retirement systems provide both pension benefits and other postemployment benefits (OPEB).Net Pension Liability (Asset)/Net OPEB LiabilityThe net pension liability (asset) and the net OPEB liability reported on the statement of net position represent liabilities to employees for pensions and OPEB, respectively.Pensions/OPEB are a component of exchange transactionsbetween an employer and its employeesof salaries and benefits for employee services.Pensions/OPEBareprovidedtoanemployeeonadeferred-paymentbasisaspartofthetotal compensation package offered by an employer for employee services each financial period.The obligation to sacrifice resources for pensions is a present obligation because it was created as a result of employment exchanges that already have occurred.Thenetpension/OPEBliabilities(asset)representtheCitysproportionateshareofeachpension/OPEB plans collective actuarial present value of projected benefit payments attributable to past periods of service, netofeachpension/OPEBplansfiduciarynetposition.Thenetpension/OPEBliabilities(asset) calculationsare dependent on criticallong-term variables, including estimated average life expectancies, earnings on investments, cost-of-living adjustments (COLA) and others.While these estimates use the best information available, unknowable future events require adjusting these estimates annually.Ohio Revised Code limits the Citys obligation for these liabilities to annually required payments.The City cannot control benefit terms or the manner in which pensions are financed; however, the City does receive the benefit of employees services in exchange for compensation including pension and OPEB. GASB 68/75 assumes the liabilities are solely the obligation of the employer, because (1) they benefit from employeeservices;and(2)Statestatuterequiresfundingtocomefromtheseemployers.Allpension contributions to date have come solely from these employers (which also include pension costs paid in the form of withholdings from employees).The retirement systems may allocate a portion of the employer contributions to provide for these OPEB benefits.In addition, health care plan enrollees pay a portion of the health care costs in the form of a monthly premium.State statute requires the retirement systems to amortize unfunded pension liabilities within 30 years.If the pension amortization period exceeds 30 years, each retirement systems board must propose corrective action to the State legislature.Any resulting legislative change to benefits or funding could significantly affect the net pension/OPEB liabilities (asset).Resulting adjustmentstothenet pension/OPEB liabilities(asset)wouldbeeffectivewhenthechangesarelegally enforceable. The Ohio Revised Code (ORC) permits, but does not require the retirement systems to provide health care to eligible benefit recipients.The proportionate share of each plans unfunded benefits is presented as a net pension/OPEB asset or a long-term net pension/OPEB liability on the accrual basis of accounting.Any liability for the contractually-required pension/OPEB contribution outstanding at the end of the year is included inintergovernmental payable on both the accrual and modified accrual bases of accounting.The remainder of this note includes the required pension disclosures.See Note 16 for the required OPEB disclosures.Plan DescriptionOhio Public Employees Retirement System (OPERS)Plan DescriptionCity employees, other than full-time police and firefighters, participate in the Ohio Public Employees Retirement System.OPERS administers three separate pension plans.The traditional pension planisacost-sharing,multiple-employerdefinedbenefitpensionplan.Themember-directedplanisa defined contribution plan, and the combined plan is a combination cost-sharing, multiple-employer defined benefit/defined contribution pension plan. - 56 57 -'