The Social Security Board had a healthy financial year in 2014, running a surplus and increasing the value of its portfolio, according to its annual report for that year.

A return on investment of about $27 million helped increase the total value of the SSB’s assets from $499.79 million in 2013 to $538.84 million in 2014, states the report, which was released last month in the House of Assembly.

The board also reportedly collected $32.66 million in taxes and paid out $19.2 million to 5,160 claimants. The report adds that the SSB’s total expenses for that year were $23.93 million, which included administrative expenses and depreciation.

The healthy financial showing came despite the fact that some 928 defaulters owed about $6.4 million — representing a five percent increase from 2013 — at the end of the year. The SSB did state, however, that it managed to collect about $3.66 million in owed payments that year.

The report added that the agency hopes to further reduce the amount of outstanding Social Security contributions by taking legal action against residents in arrears.

The firm that audited the report, Baker Tilly, classified $3.75 million of the moneys owed to the SSB as “doubtful accounts,” marking a decrease from $4.05 million in doubtful accounts from 2013.

NHI programme

Besides performing its normal functions of paying out claims and collecting contributions, the SSB also prepared for the establishment of the National Health Insurance programme.

The report notes that the Social Security Act was amended on April 8, 2014, to formally create the NHI Division of the SSB.

The board also purchased software to develop the NHI claims system, and initiated efforts to develop the programme’s network of overseas health care providers, according to the report.

Pier park

The SSB also helped finance the $85 million-plus pier park expansion project, buying $4 million in preferential shares in Tortola Pier Park in 2014 and scheduling another $1 million in security purchases for 2015.

The BVI Ports Authority — the agency in charge of developing the pier project — originally asked the SSB to invest $10 million in the project, but the board declined, according to a letter obtained by the Beacon in November 2014.

The letter from the SSB deemed several aspects of the project to be problematic, raising concerns about the management of the project and the ability for the park to generate projected revenues.

PMI Capital Services Managing Director Clarence Faulkner, who oversaw Tortola Pier Park’s fundraising efforts at the time, said in November 2014 that the concerns in the letter had been addressed.

However, documents made public in the House of Assembly in April show that through March 31, the pier park so far has collected far less revenue than it projected in a prospectus issued to potential investors in late 2014.

That prospectus estimated that Tortola Pier Park would receive $837,000 in 2015 and more than $2 million this year.

But between the park’s partial opening in September 2015 and March 31 of this year, the park only collected about $308,000, according to the HOA documents.

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