[StBernard] Pay raise would boost legislators' retirement benefits

[Westley Annis]

Pay raise would boost legislators' retirement benefits

By Mike Hasten
mhasten at gannett.com 

BATON ROUGE - Seventeen Louisiana lawmakers, five of whom are freshmen,
would receive a double boost if a proposed legislative pay raise is accepted
by the Senate.

They are members of the Louisiana State Employees Retirement System, and the
benefit of a higher salary is clear, said Maris LeBlanc, deputy director of
the system. Besides getting a bigger monthly paycheck, their retirement
benefits would be calculated on the new rate of at least $43,500 a year
instead of the current minimum $22,800 ($16,800 base, plus $6,000 expense
allotment).

"If a member receives a higher salary during the last 36 months of their
service, the retirement benefit is increased," LeBlanc said. "The total
amount of increase will depend on the date of retirement."

In 1996, public outcry over legislators receiving retirement pay for what
was considered a part-time job and the fact they passed a law so they could
earn benefits at a faster rate than regular state employees led to the
passage of a constitutional amendment prohibiting future legislators from
participating.

But they left a loophole that allows some new legislators to participate in
LASERS.

"A constitutional amendment adopted in 1996 precludes new legislators from
joining LASERS unless they are eligible for membership due to some prior
service," LeBlanc said.

So if a legislator had been paying into another government retirement
system, those years could be transferred to LASERS. And even if there was no
retirement system, the years of service on any governmental body could be
applied by paying LASERS in a lump sum the amount of wages that would have
been deducted as retirement pay for those years.

For example, former Gov. Mike Foster bought time in LASERS and boosted his
retirement benefit by paying for the years he served on the West St. Mary
Parish Port Commission for no salary.

Because of the way retirement systems calculate benefits, based on years of
service and the most recent salary, the only benefits of transferring
previous experience to LASERS are if the new salary is more than the prior
one and if a person needs more years of service to qualify for retirement.

The new legislators who joined LASERS this year all have previous service in
local government.

Rep. Richard Burford, R-Stonewall, was a DeSoto police juror. Rep. Herbert
Dixon, D-Alexandria, was a longtime teacher and Rapides School Board member.
And Rep. Rickey Hardy, D-Lafayette, was a Lafayette School Board member.
Rep. Elton Aubert, D-Vacherie, was a member of the St. James Parish Council,
and Rep. A.B. Franklin, D-Lake Charles, was a City Council member.

Other legislators who already are participating in LASERS are Rep. Wayne
Waddell, R-Shreveport, Rep. Noble Ellington, D-Winnsboro, Sen. Troy Hebert,
D-Jeanerette, Sen. John Smith, D-Leesville, Sen. Rob Marionneaux, D-Livonia,
Sen. Butch Gautreaux, D-Morgan City, Senate President Joel Chaisson,
D-Destrehan, Senate President Pro-tem Sharon Weston Broome, D-Baton Rouge,
Sen. Yvonne Dorsey, D-Baton Rouge, Sen. Danny Martiny, R-Metairie, Sen. Ed
Murray, D-New Orleans, and Rep. Nita Hutter, R-Chalmette.

All but Hutter were in the Legislature prior to the 1996 constitutional
amendment banning future lawmakers from joining LASERS. She joined using
prior local government service.

A number of other current legislators who were in office in 1969 chose not
to participate in state retirement system, including Sens. Mike Michot,
R-Lafayette, Robert Adley, R-Benton, and Joe McPherson, D-Woodworth, who
were in the state House of Representatives at that time. They were among
those who believed legislators should not qualify for state retirement.

The increased pay for lawmakers in LASERS would mean an increase in the
unfunded accrued liability of the retirement system, something the
Legislature tries to pay down on each time surplus revenue are available.

"It would involve much speculation to put an actual price on the potential
increase in liability to LASERS," said Stephen Stark, deputy general counsel
for LASERS. Much would depend on the date of retirement.

Benefits paid to current legislative retirees would not be affected by a new
higher salary because their payments were determined by what they were paid
when they retired.

The pay raise proposal - Senate Bill 672, by Sen. Ann Duplessis, D-New
Orleans - now goes back to the Senate for concurrence in the House amendment
changing the amount of the raise and the way it would be calculated.

The Senate version called for a base of $50,700, using 30 percent of
congressional salaries and increasing each time Congress gets a raise. The
House version of $37,500 is based loosely on a proposal by a compensation
commission and would increase with inflation.

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