Virgin Islands committee debates capping salary used to compute governor and lieutenant governor annuities

The Committee on Budget, Appropriations and Finance met May 23 in St. Thomas to hear testimony and debate on Bill No. 36-0032, which would cap the salary amounts used to compute the elected governor and lieutenant governor retirement annuities at $150,000 and $125,000, respectively.

Sponsor Senator Kurt Viollet said the measure "seeks to do is to set a cap that would be utilized for computing what salary the governor, lieutenant governor, will be able to retire to, now and and in the future and retroactively," arguing the change would limit future annuity costs charged to the general fund. He noted the current statute calculates annuities as a percentage of an officeholder's average salary in the last term and that a higher salary could raise lifetime annuity payouts substantially.

Cindy L. Richardson, director of the Division of Personnel, testified in strong opposition to the bill in its current form. "I express strong opposition to the inclusion of such a provision in this section of the law because it lacks a clear data supported purpose," she said, urging a broader, equitable review of retirement policy and recommending an actuarial study and statutory grandfathering if…