The Advocate (Baton Rouge, La.)
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) -- The state attorney general has opened an investigation to determine the legality of investments and expenditures in the Municipal Police Employees’ Retirement System.
Attorney General Charles Foti said Wednesday that his office received a letter from Clinton Police Chief Eddie Stewart requesting an investigation. Investigators will look at investment strategies and returns to ensure the system is following state and federal law.
“We’re really talking about life’s blood for these men and women,” Foti said. “Everybody is going to do their part to make sure these pensions are safe and secure, and that everybody has followed the available laws.”
During their regular monthly meeting Wednesday, the system’s board voted to invite federal and other state authorities to examine their investments.
“They don’t need any subpoenas,” Bossier City Police Chief Mike Halphen said. “They can look at it all, even my checking account. It’s all open.”
According to a report in The Advocate of Baton Rouge, the system has recently lost $200 million in the stock market and built a new headquarters that sits half empty. The newspaper also reported that trustees took trips at pension-fund expense and spent millions of dollars on golf courses that continue to lose money.
MPERS has a $1 billion retirement fund for 9,500 full-time police officers in more than 150 Louisiana police departments.
Trustees are under fire because mandated pension contributions by municipalities have more than doubled in two years. Also, retired police veterans living on MPERS pensions will not get cost-of-living increases or interest on their deferred retirement accounts.
MPERS’ unfunded accrued liability stands at $379 million -- the difference between the money in the fund and the amount needed to pay the anticipated pensions of its members.
Foti, who attended the meeting, said his office “is not going in with any preconceived notions. Investments that don’t pay off are not necessarily indicative of wrongdoing.”
About a dozen Louisiana police chiefs attended the meeting and several criticized some of the board’s investment decisions.
Greg Phares, who helped bring MPERS to the Baton Rouge Police Department when he was its chief, said that increased pension costs for the city could have funded $5,000 pay raises for every police officer in Baton Rouge.