EKB News

KENTUCKY....
Financial adviser Jim Voytko, president of R.V. Kuhns & Associates, Inc., has told members of the legislature’s Program Review and Investigations Committee that, if contributions remain inadequate and investments sag, Kentucky's state pension fund could run out of money in 2019. The Kentucky Retirement Systems covers 330,000 state and county employees and retirees. In the past decade the fund has realized investment returns of 3.59 percent, about half its goal which is 7.75 percent per year. Likely, by 2018, the fund will pay out nearly half of its assets every year for retiree benefits. Over the last two decades, the General Assembly sweetened retirement benefits for state workers, many of whom could leave after 27 years with a lifetime pension and free health insurance but failed to put enough money in the pension fund to honor its obligations. Lawmakers discussed whether cutting retirement benefits to existing state workers and retirees should be an option, but Kentucky law forbids such cuts. The Kentucky Association of State Employees has pledged to sue if benefits are reduced.