UPR’s debt with its retirement system goes up

At center, UPR Retirement Board President Luis Vicenty Santini.

By The STAR STAFF

UPR Retirement Board President Luis Vicenty Santini said on Monday that the University of Puerto Rico’s (UPR) debt with its Retirement System increased to $107.7 million at the close of the 2023-2024 fiscal year.

He explained that the university administration stopped paying $38.7 million in employer contributions during the 2023-2024 fiscal year, which adds to an accumulated debt of $69 million that goes back to 2014.

“The contribution failure violates the 2016 Trust Deed and the PROMESA Law because it deliberately defunds the Retirement System. It is unbelievable that the president of the UPR, Luis Ferrao, is playing with the future of the pensions of all university workers by sending less money to his pension system than budgeted and mandated by law,” said Vicenty Santini in written statements.

In a collection letter sent to the Central Administration of the UPR on July 15, officials emphasized that the actuaries’ recommendation for employer contributions to the UPR Retirement System was $154.7 million, distributed in monthly payments of $12.9 million. As of June 30, UPR paid $115.9 million, which left a deficit of $38.7 million concerning the actuarial recommendation.

“Not only did they fail to comply with the actuarial recommendation, but they paid less than what they had budgeted, which was $123 million, an amount less than that set by the actuaries, and even so, they did not meet that number,” said Vicenty Santini. In addition, he blamed Budget Director Wilson Crespo for not having delivered the budgeted amounts.

The UPR Retirement Board had previously denounced the deficiency in employer contributions and filed a collection lawsuit against the UPR Governing Board and the university administration for $59 million for deficiencies in payments and reimbursements from 2015 to 2022. In January, the lawsuit was amended to add $10 million for deficiencies through the end of fiscal year 2023. Vicenty Santini indicated that they will update the lawsuit to include the new numbers as UPR declines to provide required payments.

Vicenty Santini also criticized the Financial Oversight and Management Board executive director, Robert Mujica, for allowing the university administration to continue failing in its employer contributions in violation of the PROMESA Law. He recalled that in 2019, the then executive director of the Board, Natalie Jaresko, warned the UPR Governing Board that, if they did not make the contributions suggested by the actuary, they would put the UPR Retirement System at risk.