Honolulu Fire Department Capt. Michael Chung retired at the end of 2004, but the state Employees' Retirement System still doesn't know precisely how much his monthly pension check should be.

Chung is not alone. The ERS has a huge backlog of "finalizations" — precise numbers weren't readily available yesterday — who are waiting to receive their full pension payments.

ERS administrator David Shimabukuro acknowledged the problem, but said initial pension payments sent out to new retirees are usually within 95 percent to 97 percent of the amount that is actually owed.

Once the numbers are finalized, the ERS pays the full amount that is owed, plus 4.5 percent interest.

Most retirees don't mind and are happy to receive the interest payment later, he said.

Chung, however, does mind. "I'm a financial planner, so I know that I could take that money and invest it in stock and earn more than 5 percent," he said.

Another retired fire captain, Calvin Kealoha, also resents the delay in full payment. The ERS routinely earns more than 12 percent on its holdings, but paid Kealoha only 4.5 percent on the amount it owed him, he pointed out.

Kealoha also retired at the end of 2004 and regularly complained to the ERS about not receiving his full pension.

"It took them two years and four months to figure it out, and it was $500 more per month than what they had been paying me," Kealoha said.

Shimabukuro said a $500 monthly difference was quite high, though it is not nearly that much for most retirees.

The ERS is trying to hire temporary workers to help resolve the backlogged finalizations, but is having trouble finding workers in today's tight job market, he said.

Which brings us back to Michael Chung. He said he and yet another retired fire captain, Richard Bulacan, used to work part-time for the ERS on their "finalization" team.

"At one time, they had five or six people on the finalization team, but now I hear they're down to two," Chung said.

Bulacan is "kind of a self-taught computer programming whiz" and developed a pension-benefits calculator now posted on the ERS Web site that public employees nearing retirement can use to get a good idea of how much their pension will be, Chung said.

"We actually sold that program to some unions and financial planners in town," Chung said. "The ERS heard about it and wanted to use it. Richard's a big-hearted guy, so he just gave it to them."

Bulacan said that he retired December 2005 and is still waiting for his pension payments to be finalized.

If you know that a particular money trail will lead to boondoggle, excessive spending or white elephants, reach Jim Dooley at 535-2447 or jdooley@honoluluadvertiser.com