News
Senate Advocacy Group Visits with St. Croix Senators
On Wednesday, February 27, 2013, sixteen retirees met with five senators at the Lagoon Street Senate Complex. The meeting began shortly after 10:30 am, and it was held in the senate hearing room in order to accommodate the number of people present. The senators present were Sen. O'Reilley, Sen. Capehart, Sen. Buckley, Sen. Nelson, and Sen. Sanes. The advocacy group told the senators that the objective is to ensure the perpetuity of the GERS, and the Retirees are seeking support for this objective. The senators were attentive and generally agreed with the items presented.
- Reinstatement of the COLA for pensioners earning $25,000.00 or less.
- Leaving the annuity cap at $65,000.00 for GERS retirees.
- No interest on money withdrawn from GERS by non-vested employees when they leave the system.
- Mandate that GERS Board lower interest on loans to retirees and active employees to match lower interest on loans made under the Alternative Investment Program. Example Sea Borne at 6.5%
- Consolidate departments and agencies to save the government money.
- Establish a Retroactive Wage Payment Assignment Program to enable retirees and employees who are owed retro to apply it to tax obligations.
- Have town meeting where senators communicate with constituents and listen to their concerns.
- Find a permanent source of funding to supplement the system since the floating of bonds for this purpose in Act 6905 was never carried out.
- Mandate that the GERS Board of Trustees follow the guidelines of the AlternativeInvestment Program when applying due diligence and evaluation criteria requirements.
- Legislate taxes on imported tobacco and liquor and mandate the taxes for the GERS unfunded liability. There was extensive discussion on each issue. We were reminded that everyone will have to share the pain, and that there is no money. However, they all agreed that funds must be found to save the retirement system.
The meeting lasted until noon.
