25-pct. pension out next week

Gov. Eloy S. Inos and Finance Secretary Larrisa Larson separately told Saipan Tribune yesterday that retirees could expect payments of their deferred 25-percent pension early next week, as a result of the release of $30 million in escrow after a historic $3.14 billion Saipan casino agreement was reached Tuesday. Today, most funds will be transferred to the Retirement Fund.

“With the weekend coming, it will be early next week,” Larson said.

The chance of any payment to be released today is slim, and retirees interviewed yesterday said it doesn’t hurt to wait for a few more days if they had already waited for months.

The Commonwealth Lottery Commission and Best Sunshine’s parent company, Imperial Pacific International, reached what’s dubbed as a single largest development deal in recent CNMI history.

Imperial Pacific’s Best Sunshine now has exclusive license to develop an integrated casino resort on Saipan. The license is up to 40 years.

Tied to the granting of a casino license deal is the release of $30 million held in escrow, representing two-year advance annual license fee.

The $30 million will be used to restore retirees’ deferred 25-percent pension since the beginning of fiscal year 2014 in October, along with payments for interests on defined benefit plan members’ withdrawn contributions also last year.

Rota retirees

The Rota Legislative Delegation, meanwhile, passed during a special session yesterday a bill appropriating $2 million of that $30 million for Rota retirees’ deferred 25-percent pension, among other things.

The Saipan casino law requires the Rota and Tinian legislative delegations to each pass an appropriations bill for their respective senatorial districts’ retirees. The Tinian delegation already passed such a bill early this week.

The expenditure authority is the Department of Finance.

By a vote of 4-0, Rota lawmakers passed House Local Bill 18-58, Draft 1 at 3:20pm.

The votes were from delegation chair Rep. Teresita Santos (R-Rota), Senate vice president Victor Hocog (R-Rota), Sen. Jovita Taimanao (ind-Rota), and Sen. Paul Manglona (Ind-Rota).

Hocog offered a floor amendment that the members adopted.

Under the passed local bill as amended, $1,619,706.87 will go toward the restoration of the 25-percent deferred pension of retirees and surviving beneficiaries from Rota, either currently residing on or outside Rota.

Each retiree or beneficiary will receive a lump sum payment of the 25-percent pension cut from Oct. 15, 2013, to Aug. 15, 2014.

Of the $2 million, $50,000 will also be used by the Rota delegation to pay its debt to the Saipan and Northern Islands Legislative Delegation, pursuant to Saipan Local Law 16-4.

The remaining $330,293.13 is reserved for “prospective payments of the 25-percent” retirement cut for Rota retirees and beneficiaries. They will be appropriated at a later time for disbursement.

The governor has 20 days to sign both the Rota and Tinian delegations’ appropriations bills or the measures automatically become law.

Retirees from Saipan, however, would get their restored pension from the Retirement Fund/Settlement Fund trustee.

Lottery Commission

The Lottery Commission will meet again this afternoon to tackle the casino license agreement, as well as video lottery.

The terms of the license agreement cover 12 items that Imperial Pacific has to build within eight years, including 2,229 hotel guest rooms, 17,000 square meters of total gaming floor area, and $100-million themed entertainment facility.

The requirement for construction of an “integrated resort” on Saipan was modeled after large casino developments such as the Venetian Casino in Las Vegas and Resorts World Sentosa in Singapore, the Lottery Commission said.