ST. CROIX — A bill scheduled to be heard in an upcoming Senate committee meeting proposes to limit the retirement annuity for governors and lieutenant governors by capping benefits at their existing salaries to control government costs, according to the bill’s sponsor.
The salary used to compute the annuity must not exceed $150,000 annually for the governor and $125,000 annually for the lieutenant governor, according to Bill No. 36-0032.
Senator Kurt Vialet said he proposed the measure to control expenditures of the General Fund, noting the retirement package for the governor and lieutenant governor is funded by the General Fund instead of the Government Employees’ Retirement System.
“We had a deficit last budget cycle for fiscal year 2024; there was like a $100 million deficit,” he said. “So, we got to look at cost-cutting measures, and we got to make sure that we don’t continue to blow the finances of the government of the Virgin Islands.”
The retirement annuity for the governor and lieutenant governor is calculated at 40% of their salaries after serving one term and 80% after two terms.
Vialet, Senate majority leader, said he thinks it is fair to cap the retirement benefits at the existing salaries.
“Government employees are capped at $65,000; the Senate is capped it at $85,000,” he said. “And it’s a way of us making sure that we’re able to control costs moving forward.”
Vialet said he decided it was necessary to limit the amount governors and lieutenant governors can collect in retirement to ensure those costs are controlled even if their salaries increase.
The salaries of the governor and lieutenant governor are set to increase, too.
The Virgin Islands Public Officials Compensation Commission, which was established by legislation approved in 2016 and amended in 2020, submitted its recommendations for salary increases on August 13, 2024. After reviewing 41 positions, the Commission recommended salary increases amounting to $199,005 for the governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, inspector general, supervisor of elections, four commissioners, and three executive directors of boards and/or commissions. The Commission recommended to increase the governor’s salary to $192,088 from $150,000, and the lieutenant governor’s salary to $168,231 from $125,000.
When the governor and lieutenant governor receive their raises, their retirement benefits would also increase under the existing law.
“If they were supposed to get the raises, it would then be 80% of $192,000,” Vialet said. “So, I believe that it needed to be capped.”
On February 3, Senate President Milton Potter sent a letter on behalf of the Legislature to Governor Albert Bryan Jr. urging him to not implement any salary increases for himself or Lieutenant Governor Tregenza Roach based on the Legislature’s legal analysis.
Attorney Amos Carty Jr., the Legislature’s chief legal counsel, indicated in his legal opinion to Potter dated January 24 that the governor cannot legally increase his salary or the lieutenant governor’s salary without the Legislature amending the VI Code, Sections 1 and 31. Even if the governor had the authority to increase the salaries, Carty noted the raises would not take effect until after the next legislative session following the 2026 election.
Personnel Director Cindy Richardson testified during a Committee on Budget, Appropriations and Finance meeting on February 18 that the recommended raises for the governor, lieutenant governor, and Cabinet members had not yet been implemented.
Richardson has been invited to testify on Vialet’s bill, which is scheduled to be heard during the next meeting of the Committee on Budget, Appropriations and Finance on May 23. Vialet said he would ask the Personnel director at that time for an update to find out if the raises have been implemented.
If the law is not amended to cap the retirement benefits of the governor and lieutenant governor at their existing salaries and the pay raises get implemented, their retirement annuities would also increase. However, it is unclear whether the retirement annuities would also increase retroactively for all the former governors and lieutenant governors — former Governors Kenneth Mapp and John de Jongh Jr., and former Lieutenant Governors Osbert Potter, Gregory Francis, Vargrave Richards, and Gerard Luz James II.
“That’s one of the questions we’re going to ask on the floor of legal counsel,” Vialet said.
