Dear Source,
Senior citizens who depend on the Government Employees Retirement System for their support could find themselves in serious economic straits if the system is not rescued from years of mismanagement.
According to testimony at hearings before the Legislature’s finance committee, the current "inadequate" contribution rates of government employees continues despite an unfunded GERS liability of $500 million.
The shortfall — expressed in reference to a 1999 actuarial valuation — might be as much as $700 million if reckoned under current actuarial valuations.
It would seem natural for the trustees of GERS, who have cashed in $30 million in investments to meet payroll and retirement annuities — while taking in only $20 million — would be demanding that the government do something to stabilize the system. Senior citizens may be sacrificed as the system moves closer and closer to bankruptcy.
Huge raises are being given to political pals of the governor, while the little people are nearing the edge of a financial abyss.
About 6,000 government retirees are threatened. And no one seems to give a damn.
The silence from the GERS board is deafening.
Where is the outcry, the plan of emergency action? The Trustees are under fiduciary obligation, and could be personally liable if their inaction or neglect of the crisis harms the retirees.
Selling into a declining stock market represents further massive losses to the system, and nobody’s raising these critical questions. It’s amazing.
We are talking about elderly folks who gave their working lives to the territory, and what they’re getting is a slap in the face from the GERS board.
Morty Golden
St. Croix
Candidate for Lieutenant Governor
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