Local governments to pay more into pension system
FRANKFORT — Local governments and school boards got some hard news Thursday from Kentucky’s state budget director: they’re going to have to pay more — a lot more — into the state’s public pension system.
Budget Director John Chilton told local governments in a letter that they will need to increase contributions to the pension system by as much as 50 percent to 60 percent. Those amounts will mean some local governments and agencies will have to pay as much as 50 percent of their total payroll into the system.
The County Employee Retirement System covers city and county employees, including law enforcement, firemen and emergency medical personnel as well as non-teaching, non-degreed positions in local school systems.
CERS is part of the larger system which includes pensions for state employees, teachers and state police and is generally better funded than the other plans because, unlike state government, local governments have made the full recommended annual payments into the system. CERS wants to separate from the larger system because it is better funded but its contribution requirements are driven by the funding problems of the entire system.
Read more: http://www.richmondregister.com/news/local-governments-to-pay-more-into-pension-system/article_993dbc1e-94ee-11e7-8110-372bd699c27a.html