Juan M. Sablan, the group’s chairman, attended the meeting yesterday of the Retirement Fund’s board of trustees seeking an answer.
Sablan, in an interview, said the Fund assured him that the retirees should not worry because the money that will be used to repay the bond will come from the employer’s contributions and the poker tax.
He said he will definitely vote for the pension bond proposal, or House Legislative Initiative 17-1, because there is no other way to save the Retirement Fund.
“We are going to sink like a dying patient,” he said.
He said his group has not done a survey among its members yet and he has not spoken to a lot of them but they will discuss the bond proposal next month.
Some of their members, Sablan added, do not understand how the bond is going to be paid.
The other members, he said, are afraid that the Retirement Fund will end up “carrying the burden.”
Sablan said there are currently over 6,000 retirees.
He believes that it is very important to to educate the community regarding the bond proposal before the Nov. 2 election.
Not only the retirees but the general public as well should know more about the pension obligation bond proposal, he added.
The retirees and the public should be assured that there will be no new tax that will be imposed on them to pay for the bond, Sablan said.
Fund Administrator Richard Villagomez said they will conduct a public education campaign regarding the initiative.
