By Mar-Vic Cagurangan
Variety News Staff

THE government of Guam is required to remit a retirement contribution of 22.94 percent per employee based on the rate computed by the Government of Guam Retirement Fund board, which was supported by the Attorney General’s Office.
Budget director Carlos Bordallo said the revised 2007 budget law signed by the governor last week covers the contribution rate adjustment for 2007.
The revised budget appropriates $460,000 for payment of the increase in the employer’s portion of the retirement contribution for executive line agencies from 22.65 percent to 22.94 percent.
The governor’s office announced that eligible retirees who have been waiting to leave service may soon start the retirement process as the Department of Administration started preparing checks to cover the difference in retirement rate contributions.
The contribution rate was the center of a dispute between the Bureau of Budget and Management Research and the Retirement Fund.
The original 2007 budget law raises the retirement rate by .84 percent from the fiscal year 2006 level of 21.81 percent. BBMR initially established the rate at 22.65 percent, but the budget bureau’s computation was disputed by the Retirement Fund, which insisted that the increase was equivalent to 22.94 percent.
“The dispute surrounds a fractional percentage difference based on BBMR and the Retirement Fund’s separate interpretation of the law,” a press release from the governor’s office said.
The discrepancy prompted BBMR to seek a legal opinion from Attorney General Alicia Limtiaco, who determined that the rate offered by the Retirement Fund applies.
“Once the Retirement Fund receives the check, government employees waiting to retire will be accepted subject to certain conditions,” the governor’s office said.