The Government Employees’ Retirement System is adding nearly as many retirees to its payroll as it is removing due to deaths, GERS Administrator Angel Dawson told the board of trustees during a meeting Thursday. Since October, 217 retirees were added to the GERS payroll, while 210 were removed due to death. The system now sends out more than $11 million in annuity checks every two weeks to 8,775 retirees. The number of retirees on St. Thomas is 4,061, on St. Croix is 3,467, and on St. John is 224.