More than 2,000 active government employees have taken advantage of the reinstatement of the Government Employees’ Retirement System loan program.
Angel Dawson, administrator of GERS, told his Board of Trustees Thursday that the program’s reinstatement had been a success and that the $10 million limit in each district had been closed in on.
The program was open to active members only. As of Wednesday, 1,033 employees on St. Croix borrowed $9,984,665, and 994 on St. Thomas borrowed $9,691,244. The interest rate for personal loans was 8 percent, and the average amount of loans was $10,000, which was also the amount the loans were capped at.
Trustees Nellon Bowry and Andre Dorsey both reported hearing positive feedback from employees participating in the program.
Since the suspension of loans in 2015, there had been a movement to restart the program. The movement resulted in the Senate passing legislation ordering it to be brought back.
However, the Board of Trustees took no action until after the GERS Rescue Act was passed in 2022 and after it began to have an effect.
Dawson also had positive news about the Hampton by Hilton being built on land in Havensight leased from the GERS. The five-story, 126-room hotel with a visitor welcome center is over half completed and expected to open in 2025.
GERS is not investing in the hotel.
At the public meeting via Zoom and available on YouTube, Dawson said 260 retirees were added to the payroll from October 1, 2023, to July 15. The number of retirees deleted from payroll for the same time period was 30 less—230. The total number of retirees now totals 8,790.
Retirees receive two checks a month.
The gross retiree payroll on July 15 was reported as $11,274,064.86.
