Puerto Rico Comptroller Carmen Vega Fournier announced she is working on a retirement initiative for employees of the Office of the Comptroller, which she expects to launch during 2027, as the agency’s workforce ages. In an interview with Rubén Sánchez, she said more than 70% of the office’s employees are 50 or older, which poses challenges for continuing the oversight of public funds.
Vega Fournier said she had first planned to develop the initiative over three to four years but decided to move it up. "I think they also deserve a dignified retirement, and so we are going to work toward that," she said. Anticipating that experienced auditors and other staff may retire, she moved up a mentoring program called "Adopta a un auditor" (Adopt an Auditor), in which staff nearing retirement will pass their knowledge and experience to new professionals joining the agency.
The initiative also aims to attract recent university graduates by offering job opportunities in Puerto Rico; she said the office’s benefits and salaries are competitive with those of private public-accounting firms. On government corruption, Vega Fournier acknowledged it remains a problem and offered an estimate of 8%, though she gave no data to establish that as an official measurement.
She said her goal is to strengthen education and prevention. She warned that corruption is not limited to direct theft and can take the form of excessive contracting, citing a job that would reasonably cost $200,000 but is contracted for $400,000, which she described as misappropriation of public resources. She said cutting the estimate from 8% to 4% or 5% would be progress.