The American Samoa Government Employees Retirement Fund ended Fiscal Year 2019 with a loss of $9.3 million.
The Retirement Fund started the year with a total value of $202.375,196 but closed its books in a net position of $195,017,379.
For the year, the Fund raised $10.9 million from employee contributions of just over $3 million and employer (ASG) contributions of $7.8 million.
It paid out $24,057,631 in benefits.
Employee contributions which were refunded came to $1.5 million. Refunds are issued to resigning members.
Investment fees cost $303,893 and maintenance expenses came to $955,056.
General and administrative expenses which would include board fees, travel, and employee salaries, totaled $5.2 million.
On the income side, $12.2 million was raised in investments, $2.1 million in dividends, interest of $2.1 million, lease revenues from the Centennial Building totaled $651,996 and net appreciation in fair value of investments totaled $7.2 million.
The Fund is only 48% funded.
The actuaries recommended that the current contribution rate of 11%…ASG pays 8% and employees contribute 3%…be raised to over 19 %.
But while there have been efforts to raise the contributions over the last several years, none of those efforts translated into an actual increase.
The deficit in the contributions and paid out benefits is being covered by investment proceeds.
The current move to convert contract employees to career service would further exacerbate the unfunded liability for the government’s pension plan.
