By Rob Moritz
Arkansas News Bureau
LITTLE ROCK — Gov. Mike Beebe said today he has confidence in the director of the Arkansas Teacher Retirement System and does not think politics played a role in his decision to suspend efforts to collect hundreds of thousands of dollars in possible pension overpayments.
ATRS Director George Hopkins told the system’s board Tuesday he decided to temporarily stop trying to collect the money because of concerns about a potential lawsuit. He said he wanted time to research the issue.
The board unanimously voted to allow Hopkins to continue his research.
“I have to only assume if he’s changed course on this … then to a large extent it has to do with legal and equitable principles,” Beebe said today.
Hopkins, who served with Beebe in the state Senate, said later he needed a break to have time to fairly review the issue, which he said could involve as many as 200 retirees.
At the heart of the matter, which is unrelated to so-called double-dipping involving elected officials and the Arkansas Public Employees Retirement System, are teachers who retired and failed to report to ATRS that they had returned to work.
For years, teacher system retirees who earned more than a limit set by the state were required to have some of their pensions withheld if they went back to work for an employer participating in the system.
The Legislature repealed the law in 1995. Lawmakers reinstated the measure two years later, then repealed it again during this year’s legislative session, effective July 1.
Hopkins said today he began conducting “a historical review” in July and discovered that many system retirees, particularly those who retired from school districts and went to work for colleges, appeared to be unaware of the earnings limit, or were told they were exempt after the 1995 repeal.
“Based on my research and fundamental fairness to those members, I have some questions,” he said.
Hopkins also said he has “found legal issues that I’m not willing to discuss yet that give me grave concern about the earnings limitations in general, and I am obtaining legal advice outside of my agency in order to make sure that I’m doing the right thing by all members.”
