Kentucky Retirement Systems

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.

Currently, KRS serves over 364,000 active, inactive and retired members in the combined systems, and administers approximately $15.1 billion in assets.