Legislation aims to keep postage rate same

As the publisher of the Gazette-Democrat in Anna, Ill., Jerry Reppert spends a quarter-million dollars a year on postage.

He thinks that's plenty.

That's one of the reasons why Reppert, who also is chairman of the National Newspaper Association's governmental affairs committee, is backing proposed Congressional legislation that would ensure the price of postage stamps won't be raised until 2006.

"So I've got a stake in this," he said. "No question. Every newspaper does."

But Reppert thinks it's also an issue that every citizen should support, especially those who think 37-cent stamps are already too high.

"This is an issue that affects everybody in the United States, whether they want it to or not," Reppert said last week. "Everyone uses the mail."

Returns on investments

The bill will correct a problem that Reppert says is causing the Postal Service to overpay into the Civil Service Retirement System, which is postal workers' pension benefits. The surplus, Reppert notes, is from the fact that postal employees saw better-than-expected returns on their invested assets.

In fact, Reppert said contributions to the retirement fund will be overpaid by $71 billion over the next 40 years. This year's share of the pension payments alone is $3 billion. Reppert said if that payment is to be made, the Postal Service has promised to raise rates in 2004.

The funding for the postal workers' retirement pension comes from payroll withholding and matching contributions. Once "the cup" is full of payments, benefits are secure. If more is added, Reppert said, the pensioners don't get more and the postal service doesn't get the money back.

"It's just overflow," he said.

The legislation adjusts the formula the service uses to calculate what it needs to pay into the pension fund. If the legislation passes, the Postal Service would have to use the surplus to pay down its debt to the Treasury and allow them to postpone a rate increase for three years.

"It's a no-brainer," he said, noting that the labor unions and business groups, as well as the federal Office of Personnel Management, Office of Management and Budget and Treasury all agree the payments will be too much.

But only Congress can stop the payments from happening.

Makes deficit look better

So why wouldn't it?

Reppert said there's a catch: The overflow money makes the deficit look better on the books. Also, the federal deficit is soaring over $200 billion this year and that the extra money could end up in the general fund and used for roads or bridges.

"But that would be wrong," Reppert said. "Postage money isn't supposed to be used for those kinds of things."

A representative for U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson, R-Cape Girardeau, said that Reppert shouldn't worry.

"From what we're hearing, people are highly supportive of the change," said Emerson spokesperson Michelle Dimarob. "People really want to see this correction made."

Emerson discussed the issue just last week, Dimarob said, when she addressed the National Association of Postmasters of the United States.

"This was a topic," Dimarob said. "She assured them this is something we are looking to resolve. This is a correction that needs to be made."

smoyers@semissourian.com

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