Judge orders 25 percent cut to SRHS pensions

A judge is ordering an immediate 25 percent cut to pensions paid to retirees of Singing River Health System.

The Friday ruling by special Jackson County Circuit Court Judge James Bell came at the recommendation of a financial expert.

Jim Reeves, a lawyer representing some retirees, says the benefit cut was sharper than it would have been, but a settlement was delayed by objections and the troubled pension fund kept paying out full benefits.

Singing River stopped paying into the system from 2009 to 2014 without telling employees and retirees.

A settlement approved by a federal judge in January seeks to stretch out remaining money by cutting pension payments below what employees were originally promised.