Just days after Gov. Albert Bryan Jr. and his staff met with Government Employee Retirement System staff, board members and V.I. legislators to brainstorm how to slow the collapse of the government pension plan, that plan is once again about to give away more than a million dollars in Christmas gifts.
This year, there has been a delay in the “lottery bonus payments,” according to a statement from GERS. The “bonus payments” are legislatively-mandated gifts to government retirees, who also happen to be a reliable voting block.
According to the GERS statement, “a slight problem was encountered during the processing of the payments. The payments will be processed immediately after the problem is rectified.”
The pension plan is projected to be unable to pay regular monthly pension checks by 2023 or possibly sooner, largely due to several past legislative acts increasing benefits without sufficient increases in contributions.
The money is not part of the pension fund or related to retiree’s government service. It is a cash gift to former government employees from the V.I. government – or rather, thousands of small cash gifts. In 2008, the V.I. Legislature enacted legislation creating the cash Christmas gifts for retirees. The law’s title says it serves to “allow for a cost of living increase in the annuitants’ pensions,” and in its internal explanation cites inflation.
Contradicting its own title, the law has no connection to cost of living or inflation and is not a pension increase. It is a small cash sum, paid out shortly before Christmas.
The legislation, sponsored by then-Sens. Shawn-Michael Malone and Carlton “Ital” Dowe, actually calls for $2.27 million from lottery revenues to be spent on the cash gifts to retirees, but has been limited by available lottery revenues.
Amounts are typically between one and two hundred dollars per retiree.
The Source has repeatedly said in editorials that the government’s inability to take the step of eliminating Christmas gifts for retirees is indicative of a broader lack of political will that prevented the implementation of sufficiently painful and politically difficult reforms until it was too late to prevent the coming collapse.
– As Retirees Await Pension Cuts, V.I. Spends $1.1 Million on Christmas Presents
– This is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things
– How About A Christmas Present For JFL?
– GERS Collapse Will Come, Retirees Better Start Planning