The speaker was referring to Retirement Fund Chairman Joe T. San Agustin publicly saying he met with the governor and that the “ball is in the governor’s court.”
The compromise would restructure the Guam Memorial Hospital Authority’s debt to the Fund by adjusting the amortized rate the hospital is currently paying in delinquent debt to the Fund. The restructure is supposed to save millions for the government. GMHA owes the Fund $7.3 million.
The current amortized rate is 28 percent, but San Agustin is willing to decrease it to 21 percent.
This compromise came after San Agustin threatened to sue the government if the governor’s supplemental budget bill was passed, in which a section authorizes the governor to withhold $15 million in retirement contributions, which, according to an audit done by the Office of the Public Auditor, the government of Guam “overpaid” to the Fund.
San Agustin has since challenged the OPA report, saying it was wrong and the $15 million was not an overpayment to the Fund, but a compromise.
