WAPA Board Member Calls Authority's Owed Employee Contributions to GERS Illegal, Pleads With WAPA to Address Matter

"WAPA needs to do something!"

That's the call from Hurbert Turnbull, a member of the governing board of the Virgin Island Water and Power Authority. Turnbull wants management to act with urgency about outstanding payments to the Government Employees' Retirement System, and says he is uncomfortable with the current situation.

The Consortium recently reported on GERS's threat to pursue legal action against WAPA for the recovery of almost $2 million owed in employee deductions and employer contributions that were never turned over to the pension system, leaving close to a hundred WAPA workers in arrears on loans underwritten by GERS.

GERS had requested settlement on the issue over the course of 18 months, but WAPA's Executive Director Andrew Smith had replied that the authority could not meet that timetable, and countered with a proposal to pay the owed money intermittently over 36 months instead.

The WAPA board met on Wednesday, and during Mr. Smith's report, he acknowledged the outstanding debt, and informed the board that GERS was not willing to accept his proposed extended timeframe, and was insisting on an almost immediate settlement of the employee deductions, which make up the vast majority of the unpaid amount.