GERS floats solutions while rum cover over extension in limbo

ST. CROIX — GERS Administrator and CEO Angel Dawson Jr. projected optimism while appearing before the Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday afternoon amid what he acknowledged has been a “gloomy budget season.”

Dawson highlighted among other accomplishments the Government Employee Retirement System’s investment in Havensight, where the system leased out space for development of the 126-room Hampton by Hilton Hotel, and the resumption of the system’s personal loan program, calling each a “glimmer of light” for the community.

Twenty million dollars were allocated to the loan program — $10 million per district. On Tuesday, Dawson said the system processed $19.7 million in loans. The system had a net positive cash flow in the fiscal year ending in September 2023 for the first time in 29 years, Dawson said. By July, the value of its assets increased by $69 million to $524 million — representing a 31% increase over two years.

“While this turnaround in the GERS’s financial position is promising, it could have been even better,” Dawson said. “To be precise, it could have been at least $34 million better had we received the entire amount of the funding note scheduled for fiscal year 2024.”