Walker County will cover the costs of investment gains that employees have missed because of delayed payments into their retirement accounts, a spokesman said Tuesday.
The county is two years behind on payments for the 300 employees in a 401-a program and just made payments for the 2016 cycle on April 8. The county still owes about $659,000 for 2017 and 2018.
Because the stock market has been strong at times during those years, the employees have potentially missed out on some significant interest on investments in the account. Asked about where this missed money would come from, county public relations director Joe Legge said during an April 18 interview. “The Standard [the plan administrator] is responsible for putting any of the interest that would have been earned into the accounts,” he said.
But on Tuesday, Legge said he did not mean that the company would pay for the missed investment gains. He said he meant the company will calculate how much money each employee would have earned if the money had been invested in a timely manner. Because the county’s contribution for each employee varies, calculating the exact amount missed is tedious.
“The Standard is responsible for calculating and applying the amount of interest due,” Legge said in an email Tuesday. “The County will fund the interest from existing money.”