Gov. Sam Brownback announced today that he will delay payments to the state's retirement fund. The move, he says, would help address Kansas budget shortfall.
Kansas is delaying roughly $90 million in contributions to pensions for public school and college employees as a potential short-term response to lower-than-expected tax collections.
Gov. Sam Brownback's office announced the move Friday. It said Brownback's budget director notified the Kansas Public Employees Retirement System that the contributions due on April 15 would be "temporarily delayed."
Brownback spokeswoman Eileen Hawley said it's not yet clear how long the contributions will be delayed.
Since the current fiscal year began in July, tax collections have fallen $81 million short of expectations. State officials and university economists meet April 20 to issue new revenue projections.
Hawley said delaying KPERS contributions gives the state flexibility. She said various options for keeping the budget balanced will be discussed publicly after the new revenue forecast.
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Aileen LeBlanc is news director at KMUW. Follow her on Twitter @Aileen_LeBlanc.
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