Jackson Jambalaya

Update: Request for opinion has been sent to the Ethics Commission. Stay tuned.

Layoffs, mergers, shutting down much needed programs, setting criminals free. Such is the state of our state right now as our government tries to survive the current budget implosion. Despite these problems and the busted budgets, $50 million beef plants, squandered trust funds, and other bills given to us by the Mississippi Legislature over the years, the Legislature unfortunately still enjoys a little-known benefit called SLRP: the Supplemental Legislative Retirement Plan.

SLRP is a special retirement program created in 1989 just for legislators giving them extra retirement pay in addition to the regular retirement they receive as members of PERS. Section 25-11-301 of the Mississippi Code states:
"There is hereby established and placed under the management of the Board of Trustees of the Public Employees' Retirement System of Mississippi a supplemental legislative retirement plan for the purpose of providing supplemental retirement allowances and other benefits under the provisions of this article for elected members of the State Legislature and the President of the Senate and their beneficiaries. The retirement plan provided by this article shall go into operation on July 1, 1989, when contributions by members shall begin and benefits shall become payable. This retirement plan is designed to supplement and is in addition to the provisions of Section 25-11-1 et seq. Under the terms of this article, the members of the State Legislature and the President of the Senate shall retain all social security benefits under Article 1 and additional state retirement and disability benefits under Article 3 of the Public Employees' Retirement Law of 1952, as amended. This article is a supplement to those sections, and is designed to provide more benefits for members of the State Legislature and the President of the Senate by reason of their service to the state." Section 25-11-301

Section 305 states SLRP shall include all members of the Legislature unless they choose to opt out of the program. Section 309 states "(1) The retirement allowance from the Supplemental Legislative Retirement Plan shall consist of fifty percent (50%) of an amount equal to the retirement allowance determined by creditable service"." In other words, SLRP gives legislators time and a half retirement pay in comparison to teachers, police officers, prosecutors, and other state employees. How will Cecil Brown explain this golden parachute away the next time he argues the state should raise taxes? By the way Cecil, how loudly did you protest when your boss signed the bill into law? Interesting question but back to SLRP.

PERS administers SLRP. (There is a SLRP section on its website.) The contribution rate for Legislators is 3% and 6.65% for the state. The retirement pay is based on an average of the four highest-paid years of legislative service. Meanwhile, state employees are required to contribute 7.25% of their pay to their retirement plan while the state contributes 11.85%.

How much money is in the SLRP fund? The 2009 annual report states SLRP fund contains $9,832,000 in net assets held for pension benefits (page 15). The value of said assets declined nearly $3 million in 2009. The report also stated employer contributions were $458,000 and employee contributions were $207,000 in that year.

A public records request was filed with PERS for the amount currently in the SLRP fund, as well as the portion designated employee and employer contributions. PERS denied the request by claiming what was sought was data and not an actual record: "Due to the fact that your request does not identify specific record being sought, your request for information or records pursuant to the State of Mississippi's Public Records Act is denied" - this in a letter dated January 26, 2010 and signed by Greg Gregory, Deputy Administrator. Needless to say, JJ strongly disagrees with this interpretation as it is clear Mr. Gregory is engaging in word games. JJ is appealing to the Ethics Commission.

If Barbour is looking for programs to cut, maybe he should look at this program. There is simply no justification WHATSOEVER for these REMF's to sit back and collect time-and-a-half in pay in their retirement plans. A system that rewards part-timers who wheel and deal at Ticos every night more than guards at Parchman or game wardens who risk their lives on a daily basis is a perfect example of how dysfunctional our Legislature really is.

While the Legislature lives in an alternate universe, thousands of state employees and their families are wondering if they will even have a job in a few months. Mississippians have seen their private retirement accounts pummeled by the financial markets over the last few years. Local businesses worry about making payrolls. Our cities try to protect us and educate our kids as sales tax revenue declines. While many suffer, the pain is not spread equally as the Legislature is immune to the problems afflicting Mississippi. If the Legislature wants to cut everyone else's pay, perhaps it should lead by example and cut its own. The SLRP trough needs to go.