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by Mindy Aguon
Guam - As the Calvo Administration seeks input from the public on ways to cut costs in the government through village meetings, there is growing support for an early retirement program that officials say would be much different than the previous costly Early Out Program. "I think the common theme is that it's a win-win, the more you do an early retirement the less you have to do or maybe you don't have to do anything with regarding layoffs," stated Troy Torres from Adelup.
As the Administration looks to cut $43 million from the government's current spending habits, one idea that is growing in popularity is an early retirement program. Torres, the governor's communication director, stresses that such a proposal would be completely different than the early out program that was offered to government workers back in 2000. The Government of Guam Retirement Fund has said it would be against another early out program as the last one cost the government $100 million.
He continued, "One, this is not the early out that we're considering that was something done back in 2000, this is an early retirement program, which is different. And so one of the incentives of an early retirement plan would be to remove the penalties so that you can retire early, it's as though you're fast-forwarding - you're retiring."
Department of Administration acting human resources administrator Shane Ngata says officials are gathering input and working to ensure that if early retirement is offered, it will be cost effective for the government. "With any early retirement plan you're looking at a certain range or number of years that an employee would be eligible to retire. Three years, five years, some plans that have been researched are ten years - and that's just how many years they are within the retirement age or their years of service," he told KUAM News.
Governor Eddie Calvo mandated that the spending cuts task force provide their recommendations on where to cut $43 million in the government by July 1, but Torres says they will ask for the deadline to be moved to July 15 to allow for more public input through the education outreach meetings (schedule below).