CFT advises changes to politicians’ pension

The Com­mittee for Financial Su­pervision CFT has advised a solution for the pension issue of (former) politicians of Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba to Dutch State Secretary of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations Raymond Knops.

In a letter to the state secretary dated October 5, CFT Chairman Raymond Gradus pointed out the various risks that the finan­cial consequences of the pensions present for the budgets of the public entities Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba.

The CFT advised Knops to have the building-up of pensions of (former) politicians brought in line with those of civil servants, which means a build-up of the pension based on av­erage wage instead of last wage, conditional index­ation and a lower building-up percentage.

The CFT further advised to see whether the pension entitlement can be trans­ferred to the pension fund in order to terminate the risks for the islands’ bud­gets and to improve effi­ciency.

Pension advisor Montae & Partners was asked by the CFT to draft a report on the pension issue, which was shared with the three public entities. The CFT asked the public entities to respond, if needed. No re­action was received.

The issue of the pension burden was recently point­ed out by the public entity Saba, by Finance Commis­sioner Bruce Zagers in particular. In addressing the Saba Island Council during the handling of the 2019 annual report, Zagers spoke of Saba’s first-time deficit of US $621,000 and the financial challenges. Part of the budget deficit was caused by the increase in the pension provision for former politicians in the amount of US $556,000. Zagers remarked that this expenditure was not bud­geted, was outside the control of the public entity Saba and was not financed through any additional in­come.

The Daily Herald.