The NMI Retirement Fund of Trustees has reaffirmed its position to sue the government for its longstanding debt in employer contributions.<\/p>\n
During a meeting Tuesday evening, the board expressed its determination to push through with the lawsuit. Its only concern is the \u201ccost,\u201d said board chair Joseph Reyes.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut we\u2019re not withdrawing. There\u2019s no such thing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He said the Fund\u2019s legal counsel is now studying the issue to determine, among others, who to name as defendants.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are suing everybody that\u2019s supposed to pay us the money\u2014the central government and whoever is supposed to be sued,\u201d said Reyes.<\/p>\n
The central government owes the Fund $85 million in employer contributions or over $100 million including other obligations.<\/p>\n
For this year alone, the central government has been four pay periods behind or $3.3 million in arrears.<\/p>\n
The lack of payment also explains the shortage of funds to pay off pension obligations this Friday. As of early this week, the Fund said the shortage was at $1.4 million.<\/p>\n
The central government was expected to remit to the Fund up to $800,000 yesterday, which would be credited to the ACH account or bank accounts.<\/p>\n
The Fund said it needs a total of $2.3 million for pension payments this week.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the $85 million arrears reflect the central government\u2019s unpaid employer contributions from December 2001 up to the present.<\/p>\n
The Fund said that, although the administration paid its contributions, these were credited to the oldest accounts covering fiscal years 1998 to 2001.<\/p>\n
The Fund said that the government ceased payments altogether from August 1999 until September 2001.<\/p>\n
The Fund said that total employer contributions paid from October 2001 to September 2005 amounted to $56.3 million.<\/p>\n
The government is required to shoulder 24 percent of retirement contributions for about 5,000 employees.<\/p>\n
The 24 percent rate was raised by the Fund to 36.7 percent effective October this year in view of the government\u2019s huge debt.<\/p>\n
The Fund has a total of $526 million in unfunded liability.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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