The Kentucky Chamber of Commerce says citizens need to understand the scope of the state’s public pension crisis. The governor’s proposed budget makes a down payment on what could be a 20 to 30-year effort.
The $36 billion dollar shortfall in Kentucky’s public pension plans is more than three-and-a-half times the total general fund tax money the state collected last year. Chamber President Dave Adkisson says it will take decades to fix the problem after years of neglect, but the effort must start in the current legislative session. He adds the drain on the state coffers poses a threat to essential crisis.
"What we're trying to do as the business community is to make everyone aware of how serious this is. It's not just another Frankfort issue that we can kind of dismiss as 'boring' or 'beyond our grasp' it's an issue that affects every taxpayer, every student, every person who expects public services from their state and local governments," Adkisson says.
The state Chamber of Commerce has launched a public awareness campaign to help Kentuckians understand the scope of the problem. If the pension crisis isn’t addressed, it could put public projects on hold, make it harder to attract new companies to the state, and lead to higher interest rates on state bonds.
