The Nicholasville City Commission authorized Mayor Russ Meyer during Monday’s special-called meeting to sign a resolution supporting reforms to the county employee retirement system (CERS) to make the plan sustainable in the future.
The resolution stems from the state’s unfunded pension system, which has been a hot topic during the 2013 General Assembly session in Frankfort.
“This is in support of the (Kentucky League of Cities) resolution to our legislature on pension reforms,” Meyer said. “We’ve spoken in the past on how this has impacted our city over the past five or six years, and our match that we have to send in by (state) mandate. This is a legislative issue, not a local government issue.”
Since fiscal year 2003, when the city paid approximately $754,000 into CERS, the amount has increased by more than $2 million.
“The state’s pension has $33 billion in its unfunded balance; something has to be done, and they’ve got to start moving forward on it, and all the cities have come together to lock arm-and-arm to say that we support reform,” Meyer said. “I do. I don’t see how we can keep going like this.”
The state’s unfunded balance means if every government employee retired today, the state would fall $33 billion short in being able to provide a pension.
