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Showing posts from April, 2013

A Task Assigned to the TVARS Board

The TVARS board is required to recommend a contribution from TVA to be made in fiscal year 2014 prior to the end of the current fiscal year.  (See Section 9B on pages 51-53 of the rules here .)  Since TVA sets its budget months before the end of the fiscal year, it is imperative that this recommended amount be: decided upon by the TVARS board as quickly as possible; sufficient to adequately fund TVARS; and consistent with the amounts charged to ratepayers for pension expense. All seven TVARS board members have an obligation to come together to accomplish this.  (See TVARS board members here .)  I sincerely hope we will be able to accomplish this without further rule changes suspending TVA contributions, or further claims that legitimate accrued benefits are not really vested and must be reduced.  I hope we will be able to put an end to our failure to insure that amounts paid by TVA ratepayers for pension expense are used for their intended purpose.  As a TVARS board member, I

Plan for the Worst and Hope for the Best

I believe it is critical that the TVARS board specify in the rules that the COLAs are "non-forfeitable" vested benefits as soon as possible BEFORE any divestiture discussions take place.  TVA has communicated for several years now that it believes COLAs are "forfeitable," or not vested.  TVA’s “understanding” could be “baked in” any divestiture discussions if the TVARS board does not act quickly.  I do not know the probability of divestiture occurring, but I believe the TVARS board should protect the members of the system by planning for the worst and hoping for the best. 

Recommendation to TVARS Board

From: Muzyn, Leonard J Jr Sent: Friday, April 12, 2013 12:39 PM To: Bays, Leslie P; Hairston, Peyton T Jr; Hoskins, John M; Stokes, Allen E; Troyani, Anthony L Jr; Wilson, Tammy W Cc: Brackett, Patrick D Subject: 2014 TVARS Contribution Fellow TVARS Board Members: From the beginning of 2003* through 2012, TVARS has been substantially underfunded. However, during this ten year period, TVA collected $605,000,000 from ratepayers to cover pension costs that were then diverted to non-pension activities. $522,000,000 of this amount occurred in 2012 alone. These numbers are detailed in a letter from Dan Pitts dated January 20, 2013. (See Dan's letter here .) TVA has twice responded to Dan Pitts' letter and did not, in either instance, take exception to the data in his analysis. (See TVA's responses here and here .) Per TVARS rules, the TVARS board must soon recommend a contribution from TVA to be made in 2014. I believe a very reasonable starting point for di

Transcript of Dec 2012 TVARS Mtg

The transcript of the December 11, 2012 TVARS board meeting is now available here . The motions I made to open the meetings to the membership, member voting on benefit concessions, and informing TVA of TVARS’ funding requirements, begin on page 9. Please note especially the excellent e-mail from a retiree in support of open meetings which I read on page 11. No one on the TVARS board would second any of these motions. More information is available on my website here .