(Frankfort) The pension plan for state employees has lost $1.7 billion in recent weeks because of upheavals on Wall Street.Kentucky Retirement Systems Chief Investments Officer T.J. Carlson said the overall value of the pension plan fell from about $11.4 billion on July 1 to about $9.7 billion this week. Volatility in the financial markets has taken even larger tolls in some other states, including California, which has lost some $18 billion over the same period.
The losses have the Bluegrass Institute calling again for pension reforms. Jim Waters, vice president of the Bowling Green organization that has pressed for years for such reforms, said the tanking of the stock market puts Kentucky even deeper in the hole in what already is a drastically underfunded pension plan.
