KPERS turns in positive report for 2017

After taking steps in recent years to shore up the state’s troubled pension system, Kansas lawmakers got good news about the fund’s long-term outlook Monday.

Its unfunded liability — how much the pension fund will have to pay out over the next 40 years that isn’t covered by current assets and assumed earnings — fell by $154 million during calendar year 2017, while the overall size of the pension fund grew to $19.5 billion.

And even though the remaining size of the unfunded liability, at $8.9 billion, may still appear daunting, the head of the Kansas Public Employees Retirement System said the state is now on track to have the entire unfunded liability paid off by 2033, about three years earlier than previously estimated.

“The big part … could be extinguished by that time frame,” KPERS executive director Alan Conroy said in an interview after briefing a joint legislative oversight committee. “The funding is based on getting to that point.”