Kentucky Public Pensions Authority
House Bill 484, passed during the 2020 Regular Session of the Kentucky General Assembly, and House Bill 9, passed during the 2021 Regular Session of the General Assembly, made significant changes to the governance and administrative structure of the Kentucky Retirement Systems.
Most notably, the governance of the County Employees Retirement System (CERS) now rests with a separate 9-member board of trustees. Another 9-member board of trustees called the Kentucky Retirement Systems (KRS) oversees the Kentucky Employees Retirement System (KERS) and the State Police Retirement System (SPRS). The administrative entity comprising the office of counselors and professional staff that has traditionally been known as KRS changed its name to the Kentucky Public Pensions Authority (KPPA). It is governed by a third 8-member board composed of trustees from CERS and KRS.
Daily system activities, including administrative support, investment management, benefits counseling, accounting and payroll functions, and legal services are performed by a staff of professional employees working as the KPPA.
Governance and Administrative Structure of the Systems
KPPA comprises three separate systems – CERS, KERS, and SPRS. CERS and KERS each have Hazardous and Nonhazardous members. Each of those five systems has a pension fund and an insurance trust fund. The systems serve active and retired state and local government employees, State Police officers, and nonteaching staff of local school boards and regional universities. The 10 funds are administered by the two 9-member boards of trustees, each consisting of three elected members and six gubernatorial appointees serving four-year terms.
Effective April 1, 2021, the CERS Board of Trustees is responsible for governance of the CERS pension and insurance plans for Hazardous and Nonhazardous. The governance of the KERS Hazardous and Nonhazardous pension and insurance plans and the SPRS pension and insurance plans are the responsibility of the KRS Board of Trustees.
CERS and the new KRS each have a Chief Executive Officer (CEO) who serves as a legislative and executive advisor to the respective boards and a General Counsel who provides legal services.
KPPA employees provide administrative support to, and conduct daily activities for, the CERS and KRS boards, and the KPPA . KPPA is overseen by a third, 8-member board composed of members from the CERS and KRS boards. KPPA is led by an Executive Director who works with the CEOs of CERS and KRS to carry out the statutory provisions of the systems.
How Does This Affect Me As a Member or Retiree?
Members and retirees can access online Self Service features, and highly trained personnel can assist you with your pension needs.
All trustees have a fiduciary (legal) obligation to work solely in the best interests of ALL system members, without preference to any particular group.
All boards, including the 8-member KPPA board, are statutorily required to "… administer the retirement system in an efficient and cost effective manner for the taxpayers of the Commonwealth of Kentucky and shall take all actions available under the law to contain costs for the trusts, including costs for participating employers, members, and retirees."
Our Promise to You
As
a stakeholder of the systems please rest assured: our long-standing dedication to providing superior service for our
members, retirees, and participating employers remains the same. The professional staff who were there for you
in the past will continue to be here to help you with your retirement needs.
Our Six Mandates:
Strive for appropriate funding for all plans.
Provide members with efficient access to information and helpful counseling to meet their individual needs.
Manage the assets in accordance with each plan's needs while adding value to a passive portfolio.
Communicate effectively with all constituents, while ensuring appropriate transparency.
Maintain a work environment that promotes employee inclusion and diversity, effectiveness, morale, safety, and retention.
Insist on a culture of continuous enhancement to everything we do.
Our History:
The Kentucky Employees Retirement System (KERS) was created in 1956 by the Kentucky General Assembly in order to supplement the benefits provided by Social Security. When the first actuarial valuation was completed June 30, 1957, there were 16,000 employees participating in KERS and assets of $2.8 million. The State Police Retirement System (SPRS) and County Employees Retirement System (CERS) were established in 1958. The first actuarial valuation of SPRS was conducted June 30, 1959. No actuarial valuation of CERS was conducted until June 30, 1960 because the statutes did not authorize retirements from the system prior to July 1, 1960. On June 30, 1960, there were 68 counties and 2,617 employees participating in CERS, and SPRS included 415 uniformed state troopers.
Privacy Policy:
Thank you for visiting the KPPA website and reviewing our privacy statement. KPPA will collect no personal information about you when you visit our website unless you choose to submit that information to us.
Email: If you choose to provide information in an email, KPPA may use that information to respond to your message and may place the information in your member file. Please do not put confidential and personal information in your email communications to KPPA. Your privacy cannot be protected or insured by KPPA. Examples of information which should not be transmitted by email communications include: Social Security number, date of birth, home address, telephone number, bank account and credit card information, mother's maiden name, medical information, and any information that you would not want a third party to discover.
Hyperlink Disclaimer:
No endorsement is intended or made of any hypertext link, product, service, or information either by its inclusion or exclusion from any page within the KPPA website. Although all attempts are made to insure the correctness and suitability of information under our control and to correct any errors brought to our attention, no representation or guarantee can be made as to the correctness or suitability of that information or any linked information presented, referenced, or implied. All critical information should be independently verified. Any questions should be directed to the administrator of this or any other specific sites.