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Legislature scrambles to secure retirees’ benefits
The trustee of the NMI Settlement Fund is pushing the CNMI government to settle the balances it owes the Fund for fiscal years 2014 and 2015, or else the Fund would “cease assisting” the government with the processing of retiree benefits.
In a letter from NMI Settlement Fund trustee Joyce Tang dated Aug. 18 to Gov. Ralph DLG Torres, she stated that the Settlement Fund would “cease assisting the NMI government with the processing of the 25 percent payments to retirees effective on the next scheduled payment,” which was Thursday last week.
The letter was the third in a string of letters to the governor. According to her most recent pne, Tang said that Torres did not respond to any of her letters.
Tang has letters to the governor last Nov. 3, 2016, and Dec. 12, 2016.
According to the settlement agreement, if 17 percent of total annual revenue is greater than the minimum annual amount the Commonwealth government is paying, then the government would pay the difference within 60 days.
According to Tang’s Nov. 3, 2016, letter, the payment of the sum of $5.7 million, which was later corrected to $5.9 million in her Dec. 12, 2016 letter, should be paid no later than Jan. 3, 2017. This amount was to address the difference in total net annual revenue for fiscal year 2014.
For fiscal year 2015, her most recent letter stated the Commonwealth government should pay the Settlement Fund $1.2 million.
Tang asserted that without the “government’s firm commitment” to promptly address the debt, the Settlement Fund would cease processing the 25 percent payments to retirees. As of press time, it was not confirmed whether the Settlement Fund pushed through with the ultimatum but the House has already passed legislation to address the concern in the form of House Bill 20-116.
HB 20-116, authored by Rep. Angel Demapan (R-Saipan), is now in the Senate.
