Kentucky Pension Crisis Goes Nuclear As Teacher Retirements Surge 64% Over Last Year

As Kentucky’s Governor Matt Bevin and legislators attempt to design a pension reform bill that will save the state’s various public pension plans from literally running of cash in “three to five years,” or worse yet bankrupting their state, some teachers and other public employees have decided they’re not going to wait around to negotiate and instead turned in their retirements notices to lock in their current benefit structures.
As the Carrier-Journal points out today, Kentucky’s Teachers’ Retirement System saw a 64% surge in teacher retirements YoY in the month of September. Meanwhile, system-wide retirements increased a staggering 37.4% in September and are up 23% so far in October.
The number of public employees deciding to retire has surged in recent weeks as the governor and legislative leaders prepare to enact a pension reform plan this fall.
The Teachers’ Retirement System has received applications of 120 members who have decided to retire on Nov. 1. That’s up 64 percent over the 73 members who retired on Nov. 1 of last year.

This post was published at Zero Hedge on Oct 11, 2017.