A Retirement Windfall for the Few, a Burden for the Many

Brilliant strategy: express outrage at a pay raise in front of the public to sell them on capping pensions at the current salaries of $150,000 and $125,000, all while quietly keeping the Governor and Lieutenant Governor’s fat pension checks ($120,000 and $100,000 annually) for the rest of their lives untouched. Masterclass in smoke and mirrors.

When it comes to retirement benefits, what’s legal is not always what’s fair. Today, we face a glaring injustice in how we compensate our public servants in retirement: elected officials are granted extraordinary pensions while ordinary government employees must labor under rigid, capped, and often insufficient rules.

In any democracy, public compensation—especially pensions funded by taxpayers—must reflect fairness and equity. Yet in the U.S. Virgin Islands, retirement laws are skewed to favor those at the top. Under current law, the Governor and Lieutenant Governor receive 80% of their salaries—$150,000 and $125,000 respectively—as an annuity for life after just eight years of service. No age requirement. No waiting period. Vesting for senators attaches upon completion of three (3) terms but receipt of the annuity begins at age 60. For the record, I opted out of the GERS at the beginning of my first term.

Compare that to our everyday public servants: teachers, janitors, clerks, and nurses. These workers must contribute to the Government Employees Retirement System (GERS) over decades, meet minimum age thresholds, and accept modest payouts—if the system remains solvent at all.

For example:

A Tier I employee earning $40,000 after 30 years of service receives $2,500 per month.

A Tier II employee with the same record receives $1,750 monthly. • A senator, after serving just six years at $85,000 annually, receives $1,487.50 per month beginning at age 60.

A lieutenant governor after serving just four years at $125,000 annually, receives $4,167.00 per month. And after eight years, he receives $8,333.33 monthly.

A governor after serving just four years at $150,000 annually, receives $5,000.00 per month. And after eight years, he receives $10,000.00 monthly.

The system sends a disturbing message: elected service is rewarded far more generously than the hard, often invisible work of keeping our communities running.