Investigation: Diocese Claims False - Board Directed Only $14M in Payment to St. Joseph Pension Fund
Tuesday, October 10, 2017
GoLocalProv.com has secured a copy of the Board of Trustees minutes from the critical meeting that approved the sale of St. Joseph, Fatima Hospital, and Roger Williams Medical Center to Prospect of California.
At that meeting in 2014, the board at the time directed just $14 million of $45 million from Prospect towards the pension fund - at a point when the hospitals’ actuarial firm had warned the board that the pension fund was woefully underfunded.
At the fateful meeting on February 27, 2014 held in the cafeteria conference room at Our Lady of Fatima, eleven of the thirteen board members were in attendance and carved up the $45 million cash portion Prospect’s offer and voted to provide just $14 million of the underfunded pension program.
Latest in Investigation
That fiscal year’s report prepared by Angell Pension Group of East Providence would show that to fully fund the pension fund $29,573,536 would be needed.
Questions now arise whether Angell’s numbers were too low.
Many of the board members had been appointed with Bishop Thomas Tobin’s blessing in the 2010 merger between St. Joseph and Our Lady of Fatima with Roger Williams Medical Center — the entire entity was rebranded as CharterCARE in 2010.
One constant on the Board of Directors has been Tobin’s man, Reverend Timothy Reilly. He served on the CharterCARE board prior to the sale to Prospect and then as one of three members of the orphaned pension fund that filed for receivership in August of this year.
Reilly said in a September article published in the Rhode Island Catholic that the Diocese “is not currently, and has not been, responsible for the ownership, management or oversight of the pension funds in question, and St. Joseph Health Services is not a Diocese entity.”
Diocese Won’t Respond to Press Questions, Using Diocese Newspaper to Get Message Out
During the past few weeks, the Diocese of Providence has closed ranks. The often talkative Bishop Thomas Tobin has refused to answer questions and has been unavailable to meet with GoLocal despite repeated requests.
As documents are unveiled, it is clear that Tobin chaired the Board of St. Joseph prior to the merger, had a significant number of appointments to the merged entities’ board — the combined CharterCARE, and prior to the merger failed to make proper contributions to the pension fund.
The Diocese has been offering statements through the Rhode Island Catholic. The most recent opinion piece was published under Diocese lobbyist Father Bernie Healey’s name.
According to Healey, "It is untrue and unfair to suggest that Bishop Tobin is not living up to his ‘moral obligation’ in this situation. The impetus for the CharterCARE transaction was to save a failing community hospital that was losing millions of dollars per year. The Bishop’s intent and great hope was that the hospital would stay fiscally viable and continue to fulfill its vital mission to the community.”
But what Healey’s narrative and other Diocese-sanctioned articles and opinion pieces fail to acknowledge is that the Diocese had appointed multiple board members as part of the 2009 merger and that prior to the 2009 merger the Diocese failed to make much-needed contributions to the pension fund.
While Tobin has repeatedly refused comment, he did state in the Rhode Island Catholic in September that he was praying.
“We certainly hope and are praying that this comes to a very positive solution for them as will be possible,” said Tobin. The “them” Tobin refers to is the nearly 3,000 members of the Catholic Church’s former hospital employees whose pensions are now in peril.
As GoLocal reported last week:
From 2007 to 2015, contributions were made only in two years. Despite the fund needing tens and tens of millions of dollars annually, contributions were made only in the years in which St. Joseph was being sold.
In 2010, when the Diocese merged St. Joseph into Roger Williams Medical Center — that year a $1.5 million contribution was recorded. The other contribution was the $14 million in 2014.
In response to GoLocal's questions, CharterCARE issued the following statement, “We understand how difficult this situation is for those employees and retirees who are impacted by the pension fund’s decision to file for receivership.
It is important to note that the pension fund (the “Pension”) is not connected to either Prospect CharterCARE, LLC or Prospect. The pension fund was organized by St. Joseph Health Services of Rhode Island, Inc., a separate organization that retained control of certain assets and liabilities that were not transferred to the purchaser when the transaction with Prospect was completed three years ago.
Neither Prospect Chartercare, LLC nor Prospect have any oversight or control of the Pension.
As part of the overall transaction for the system, Prospect provided over $40,000,000 dollars in cash to the seller of the system. The allocation of the funds was a decision made by seller.
Similarly, neither Prospect nor Prospect Chartercare had involvement with decisions about contributions to the plan in years prior to 2014."
Related Slideshow: 10 Things to Know About One of Biggest Pension Failures in RI - St. Joseph Receivership
Related Articles
- Investigation: Diocese Claims False - Board Directed Only $14M in Payment to St. Joseph Pension Fund
- Will Kilmartin Be Sued for Role in St. Joseph’s Pension Fund Bankruptcy?
- 1,000 St. Joseph Retirees Hear Horrors of Impact of Pension Fund Collapse
- RI Treasurer Magaziner Talks ‘Back to Basics’, College Costs, and St. Joseph’s Pension Fund
- St. Joseph’s Pension Fund Bankruptcy Could Be Just One of Many in RI
- Kilmartin Lawyer Who Approved St. Joseph’s Sale to CharterCARE Leaves AG After 23 Years
- Emergency Status Hearing Friday on St. Joseph Pension Fund Bankruptcy
- Diocese, RWMC and CharterCARE All Failed to Make Millions in Pension Payments to St. Joseph
- 38 Studios’ Wistow Named Special Counsel to Investigate St. Joseph Bankruptcy
- Bishop Tobin ‘Prays for Swift and Positive Resolution’ for St. Joseph’s Retirees, Despite Role
- Mattiello Blasts Kilmartin on St. Joseph Pension Fund Bankruptcy
- After Week of Silence, Kilmartin Issues Statement on St. Joseph Pension Bankruptcy
- St. Joseph Bankruptcy: Diocese Failed to Make Contributions to Employees Pension Fund for Years
- Riley: St. Joseph Pension Collapse Was Negligence or Malfeasance by Kilmartin
- 10 Things to Know About One of Biggest Pension Failures in RI - St. Joseph Bankruptcy
- St. Joseph Receiver Del Sesto to Meet with Raimondo, Ruggerio Proposes Bill
- READ: St. Joseph Pension Fund Bankruptcy Documents
- United Nurses and Allied Professionals Statement on Bankruptcy of St. Joseph’s Retirement Fund
- VIDEO: Violet Hosts Meeting for Hundreds of St. Joseph Pension Fund Retirees
- Moore: State Should Rescue St. Joseph’s Pensioners
- VIDEO: Governor Raimondo Calls for Investigation into St. Joseph Pension Fund Bankruptcy
- Who Was Responsible for Protecting the St. Joseph Pension Fund?
- Receiver: St. Joseph Pension Bankruptcy Will Impact As Many as 2,800, 40% Cuts to Benefits
- Siedle: St. Joseph’s Pension Fund Bankruptcy Shows RI Needs AG Who Knows Pensions