From the Courier Journal, Stephanie Seitzer, comes the following story revealing how bad the state's finances are!!! And with the story of Kelly and Borders jumping from the Senate to state employment (the former as a judge) with bumps in both pay and retirement one can't help but see the governmental financial sidesteps continue:
FRANKFORT, Ky. — Facing a bleak budget situation, the 2010 legislature will nevertheless be asked to increase the General Fund contribution to the public employee retirement plans by at least $74 million in the next two-year budget period, according to early Legislative Research Commission estimates.
That's on top of the more than $177 million allocated in the last biennium for pension and health care costs for non-hazardous-duty personnel.
“(The retirement fund) is in a critical funding situation, and we need to get on track,” Kentucky Retirement Systems Executive Director Mike Burnside said.
Even before the economy tanked last year, the retirement systems faced a roughly $30billion shortfall, and steep investment losses have exacerbated the situation, Burnside said.
The KRS pension fund, which had a value of $9.81 billion as of June 30, suffered a 17 percent decline last fiscal year. The $2 billion health insurance fund experienced a 23 percent loss.
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