Editorial echoes Bluegrass Institute's call for reforming corrupt pension system

The Lexington Herald-Leader today joined the Bluegrass Institute in calling for reforming the state's corrupt legislative pension system. The editorial stated:

"Kentucky's public pension systems have myriad problems, including a collective unfunded liability exceeding $30 billion. By comparison, the cost of this loophole is miniscule (sic). But the principle is huge. Even without this reciprocity, the rules lawmakers have created for computing their own pensions are more generous than the rules used to determine the benefits of rank-and-file public employees. The reciprocity loophole just rubs the faces of those rank-and-file workers — and of taxpayers — deeper in the dirt. It must end as part of pension reform."

The pension-reform banner is being carried during the current election by many House candidates challenging incumbents who have kicked the can down the road, resulting in an out-of-control pension system that threatens to crowd out essential services, threaten retirees' pensions and decimate the commonwealth's entire economy.

Read the Bluegrass Institute's latest report on the state's retirement-system crisis entitled "Future Shock: Kentucky Politicians' Opulent Pensions Have Become a Modern-Day Gold Rush."