Kentucky officials expecting surplus likely to pay for retired teacher health insurance
FRANKFORT, Ky. – Kentucky state officials are expecting to see a strong revenue surplus when the state’s fiscal year ends at midnight Sunday – a one-time windfall likely to benefit the Teachers' Retirement System.
But even a big surplus of perhaps $150 million or more would have a negligible impact on the state’s long-term financial problems.
“The economy in Kentucky has been strong ... and it appears we’re looking at a surplus that will be fairly healthy,” said Sen. Chris McDaniel, a Taylor Mill Republican who chairs the Senate budget committee. “It’s good news in the short term, but we still have long term costs on the pension front that will be crushing. It takes a long, sustained period of growth to deal with that.”
Kentucky’s current budget calls for general revenues to grow by 3.3% this fiscal year over the revenues of 2017-18 and hit a total of nearly $11.2 billion.
Read more: https://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/politics/2019/06/27/good-news-but-no-significant-effect-pension-funding-crisis/1581511001/