Once again DOE is attempting to balance their budget on the backs of the hard working professionals that educate our island’s children by taking away yet another benefit: Voluntary Payroll deductions!!! In a recent change in their Standard Operating Policy, payroll deductions have been limited to a maximum of 3. This takes away another benefit for the lowest paid teachers and staff in the Nation with the worst benefits already.
POINTS TO CONSIDER
RETIRMENT WILL BE MORE DIFFICULT: With the elimination of a Defined Benefit Retirement Plan, the burden (and risk) of planning for retirement has been put onto employees. The limiting of Payroll deductions make it more difficult to have a diversified portfolio by limiting the number of 403b deductions that can be made.
HEALTHCARE PROTECTION WILL BE DAMAGED: Guam’s Public workers have the worst Health Insurance in the Nation. This new policy penalizes people that have opted for a secondary insurance because it can no longer be able to be deducted.
EXPENSES WILL SKYROCKET: Educators will now have increased monthly expenses because the minor amount of money that will be saved by the department will be passed on to employees at multiples of the cost. Instead of Payroll writing one check for hundreds of employees now hundreds of employees have to write hundreds of checks and drive around to have them processed.
BUSINESSES AND OTHER AGENCIES WILL BE HURT: Companies and Agencies will have additional expenses because instead of receiving one check for multiple accounts they will now have to process hundreds of checks and have to hire additional personnel to process them.
PROTECTION FOR OUR FAMILIES WILL BE DAMAGED: Many people carry additional Life and Disability Insurance to protect their families in case of tragedy but now many will have to let the policies lapse.
BANKRUPTCY AND FORECLOSURES WILL INCREASE: Many workers have their mortgages and loans taken straight out of their checks so that they will never miss or be late on a payment. This is good not only for the employees but for all of the various financial institutions which in turn helps keep interest rates and loan costs down for everyone.
NEW CAR SALES WILL DROP: Many people were able to get a car loan to purchase a new car thanks to the reliability of payroll deductions.
OUR ENVIROMENT WILL SUFFER: If 1,000 people have to drive an additional 10 miles per week as a result of this, then it will burn an additional 26,000 gallons of gas per year (based on an avg 20mpg) and pump an additional 300 tons of CO2 into our atmosphere. This will add to global warming as well as wear and tear on our roads.