From: Darrell128 Date: Mon, 2 Mar 1998 18:31:57 EST Mime-Version: 1.0 Subject: NR 98012: Classis Georgetown Processes CRC Pension Inequity Claim NR #1998-012: Classis Georgetown Processes Pension Inequity Claim by Retired Christian Reformed Ministers Should Christian Reformed ministers who retired a number of years ago receive a substantially lower pension than more recent retirees? Retired ministers Revs. Henry Erffmeyer, Peter Huisman, Elco Oostendorp, and Henry Van Wyk don't think so. As members of Twelfth Avenue CRC in Jenison, the four ministers overtured their council to overture Synod 1998 to address the inequity, and brought the overture to Classis Georgetown when their church rejected the overture. NR 1998-012: For Immediate Release: Classis Georgetown Processes Pension Inequity Claim by Retired Christian Reformed Ministers by Darrell Todd Maurina, Press Officer United Reformed News Service JAMESTOWN, MICH. (February 19, 1998) URNS - Should Christian Reformed ministers who retired a number of years ago receive a substantially lower pension than more recent retirees? Retired ministers Revs. Henry Erffmeyer, Peter Huisman, Elco Oostendorp, and Henry Van Wyk don't think so. As members of Twelfth Avenue CRC in Jenison, the four ministers overtured their council to overture Synod 1998 to address the inequity, and brought the overture to Classis Georgetown when their church rejected the overture. According to the retired ministers' figures, the current Christian Reformed pension funding formula provides a $1029 per month pension for a minister with 37 years of service who retired last year, but $866 per month for a minister with the same length of service who retired in 1981. The difference in average ministerial salaries between first year retirees and older retirees is actually increasing: according to the overture, the current $163 per month disparity rose from $140 last year - a difference of $23 in one year - and if it continues at current rates will lead to an additional disparity of $100 in four years. Projecting the figures to the year 2016, a 100-year-old Christian Reformed minister would receive $600 per month or $7200 per year less. "This difference in monthly pension allowance makes for inequality in purchasing power which is not fair," wrote the ministers in their overture. "The older retirees and the new retirees pay exactly the same for church budget, car expenses (insurance, gasoline, replacement), rent or taxes, clothing, food (home or institutional), reading materials, utilities, recreation, hobbies, medical insurance, personal clothing, etc." According to the overture, the Christian Reformed formula is based on the minister's years of service multiplied by the average CRC ministers' salaries for the three years prior to retirement, multiplied by a factor of 1.1, and assumes that the typical Christian Reformed retired minister has served 37 years. As a solution, the retirees proposed that synod adopt one of four options: returning to the "original promised pension plan" which provided a pension equal to half the average of all current ministerial salaries, using the same formula for all retirees annually based on the average ministerial salary for the last three years, or setting the 1998 pension figure for all retirees with an annual cost of living allowance. The ministers also suggested a fourth option if none of the other three options could be executed. "Presently all retired CRC ministers who are under the CRC denominational supplementary medical insurance plan also have their premiums paid by our denomination," wrote the four ministers. "Those, however, having coverage under another company pay their own premiums. This is discrimination. They should have that same amount included in their pension, for equalization." The four ministers themselves share the pension inequity. Erffmeyer and Huisman retired in 1981 with 33 and 37 years of service, respectively; Oostendorp retired in 1976 after 41 years, Van Wyk retired in 1989 after 32 years. "In the main our overture is intended to move toward fairness in the distribution of pensions," said Huisman, the author of the overture, in his address to classis. "We are not asking for a new plan, we are asking for fairness." Van Wyk emphasized that the four didn't intend to attack the denominational pension fund committee. "We feel we get good treatment from the pension committee as a whole, and from the denomination as a whole," affirmed Van Wyk. "We are not complainers against the process, we don't want that read into this as at all." Those arguments hadn't convinced Elder Bill Venema in the debate before the Twelfth Avenue consistory, and he spoke against them again at classis explaining why the church rejected the overture. "We are saying there is no need for this to be passed tonight because there is a committee studying this," said Venema, a member of the denominational committee studying the pension fund and president of the Twelfth Avenue consistory. "We think you need to know that the ministers pension fund is funded very, very well," Venema told classis, drawing laughs by noting that no pension funds were invested in the IRM California real estate program that led to $11.5 million in denominational agency funds being placed at risk. "Synod in the past has been receptive to increases not only to ministers in the ministry but also for ministers who are retired." Despite the financial strength of the synodical pension fund Venema noted that not all was well with the pension plan, pointing to a ministry share collection rate for the pension program of only 62%. After delegates asked when the committee was scheduled to report to synod and whether it was already considering the proposals by the ministers, Venema said the committee had no set deadline for its work but expected to report to Synod 1998 or Synod 1999. After further debate, classis decided not to send the overture by the retired ministers to synod as an overture, but rather to communicate its concern to the pension fund committee "that the needs of retired pastors be seriously considered as the pension committee undertakes a restructuring of the ministerial pension," appending the overture to the communication as evidence of the concerns of some of the ministers within the classis. Cross-References to Related Articles: [No related articles on file] Contact List: Rev. Henry Erffmeyer 4306 Yorkshire Dr., Hudsonville, MI 49426 H/O: (616) 669-0253 Rev. Peter Huisman 725 Baldwin St. #2060, Jenison, MI 49428 H/O: (616) 222-4853 Rev. Elco Oostendorp 725 Baldwin St. #3018, Jenison, MI 49428 H/O: (616) 457-7691 Rev. Henry Van Wyk 7789 Coachmans Ln., Jenison, MI 49428 H/O: (616) 457-4366 Elder Bill Venema, Consistory President, Twelfth Avenue Christian Reformed Church c/o 12th Ave CRC, 7581 Twelfth Ave., Jenison, MI 49428 O: (616) 457-1860 Dr. Robert C. Heerspink, Stated Clerk, Classis Georgetown 8215 Ash Dr., Jenison, MI 49428 O: (616) 457-1010 * (616) 457-8556 * E-Mail: chcrc@iserv.net ---------------------------------------------------------- file: /pub/resources/text/reformed/archive98: nr98-012.txt .