Work Still Needed on KY Pension Reform

From Kentucky Public Radio's Tony McVeighKentucky lawmakers met in special session last month to address problems in the state pension system. But not all issues were resolved.State pension systems are 26-billion dollars in the red. Lawmakers are hoping a funding formula approved last month will fix the problem. But other issues remain, like deciding whether school bus drivers, custodians and other classified employees, should stay in the County Employees Retirement System.Some want to move them into another system, or create a separate plan. But Richard Davenport wants to stay right where he is. He’s a school bus driver in Anderson County.“City and county employees feel like they’re carrying us. I don’t see it that way myself. I believe it’s pretty much a wash,” says Davenport.Some school employees don’t work year-round. Other workers in the county retirement system do, and complain they’re subsidizing the pensions of those who don’t. A working group appointed by Governor Beshear will make recommendations on that and other issues to the 2009 General Assembly.