State Senator Elbert Guillory Talks Retirement Age And Pensions

State Senator Elbert Guillory joined 'Mornings With Ken & Bernie' today to discuss his bill to make adjustments to the state worker retirement plan.  Guillory says his bill will give employees a 2% merit pay raise to offset the cost of their additional contributions.

Guillory said something must be done at this time because, "we have an almost $19 billion dollar unfunded liability.  The state takes in $8 billion a year in income and we are paying $2 billion or a quarter of that in pension costs."

The Senate is trying to raise the retirement age to 67 for new hires and people who have been in the system for more than 10 years will not be affected.  A combination retirement plan will be implemented to protect retiree investments and provide $150 - $200 million to the state each year.

Listen to the interview: