Missouri state retirement administrators keep their bonuses

By Virginia Young
POST-DISPATCH JEFFERSON CITY BUREAU
June 19, 2009

JEFFERSON CITY - Missouri state retirement administrators can keep getting bonuses, even if the pension system's investments lose money. But it will be easier for the public to track how much the employees make.

That was the upshot of a spirited debate Thursday about "pay for performance" by the governing board of the Missouri State Employees Retirement System.

The Post-Dispatch reported in April that the retirement system, known as MOSERS, had paid bonuses totaling nearly $300,000 to its 14-member investment staff and roughly $160,000 to its 58 operations staff members. The extra payments came during a year when the system's stock market holdings declined by $1.8 billion.

On Thursday, the MOSERS board voted to do a comprehensive study of the pay structure and how it compares to other states. The results will be available by Dec. 31.

Meanwhile, the bonus system will remain in place, but the board voted to list how much staff members are paid in a database on the organization's website.

"This organization is a public trust," said State Treasurer Clint Zweifel, a board member. "We should always fall on the side of transparency."

The pension system is funded entirely from taxpayer money and investment income. State employees make no contributions to their pensions.

After the Post-Dispatch disclosed the bonuses, Gov. Jay Nixon called them "a smoky system" and "unconscionable," given the stock market losses. He appointed two former legislators - Republican David Steelman and Democrat Travis Morrison - to "bring common-sense reforms" to the 11-member board.

But Thursday's meeting showed that no changes will come quickly. Kelvin Simmons, Nixon's commissioner of administration and a MOSERS board member, sought to delete the bonuses and raises planned for the agency's staff. He said most other state employees were getting no raises.

The board rebuffed Simmons' proposal. Some members defended the bonuses, calling them key to retaining talented staffers whose expertise has helped Missouri beat the market and reap hundreds of millions of dollars in above-average investment earnings over the last five years.

Others - including Steelman and Morrison - said they needed more information before making changes.

Tempers flared briefly when board member Bob Patterson blasted Nixon for criticizing the bonuses. Patterson, who represents state employees on the MOSERS board, said some people he had talked to were "kinda upset that this whole thing is politicized."

Simmons noted angrily that the Senate had also criticized the bonuses.