24
The Need for a Retirement Plan
(Continued from page J )
viding retirement funds for eligible
personnel about ready to retire, if the
Regents would provide funds to estab
lish annuities for all later retirements.
The Board of Regents was able t a
establish its annuity plan by increasing
salaries of those who were eligible to
participate, by five per cent to match a
similar amount to be contributed by the
staff member. In other words it was
possible to establish an adequate retire
ment plan covering employees of the
University by an increase of only five
per cent of payroll.
In the years that have elapsed since
the establishment of the annuity plan
at the University, some of the annuities
have matured and the respective annui
tants are receiving the proceeds of same;
however, after “ unification” no further
annuities were contracted for any of the
staff of the six colleges in the system.
In the light of the splendid results
obtained from what annuities were es
tablished, and in view of the difficulties
encountered by the Board in providing
funds for other members of the staff
who have since reached the age of re
tirement, our Board is in a position to
note the advantages of an annunity sys
tem similar to that established at the
University, and the disadvantages of at
tempting to provide for retired per
sonnel without some such system. To
day we have 40 emeritus professors, of
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whom 8 or 10 require no compensation
from the Board of Higher Education
because their annuities established un
der the old University Plan provide ade
quately for them. O f the remaining 32,
five or six are receiving some income
from annuities and some compensation
from the Board. To cover the Board’s
contribution to them and to the 26 or
27 who receive their entire compensa-,
tion from the Board, it is necessary for
the Board to pay approximately $50,000
per year. That in itself, obviously, is a
real burden because although the emer
itus professors receiving compensation
from the Board are required to serve
part time in teaching or research, it is
a fact that the loss of their services
would not seriously handicap our oper
ations. It is further significant that this
sum of $50,000 per year is almost the
amount which would be required to
establish and provide annuities for our
entire professional staff of say 500 peo
ple who would be eligible for an annuity
plan. In other words, that $50,000 plus
an additional $10,000 would cover the
Board’s five-percent-of-salary contribu
tion necessary to pay premium on a
complete annuity plan where the Board
pays half and the annuitant half of the
premium.
Another matter which should not be
overlooked is that whereas we now have
about 40 people on the emeritus status,
there are about that many more now
over 60 years of age who will soon be a
problem and will add to the amount
which we are now paying to those above
the age of retirement.
Now what is the answer to this very
serious problem that confronts us? Just
how serious it is you can appreciate from
the fact that until the legislature at
the last session provided financial relief
for thè Board, and for which relief we
(Continued on page 31)