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Truth in the Barrel
Devil's Cut | A Retiree's Message To The Federal Government w Larry Totten
00:26:19
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- [00:01]
A
Hey, everyone. Welcome back to a new Devil's Cut edition of Truth in the Barrel. Do you think you could live off what you were making in 2011? From tariffs to skyrocketing grocery and housing prices? The answer is pretty obvious. No. Unfortunately, that has been the reality for retirees on the Kentucky public pension system. Today on Truth in the Barrel, we're joined by Larry Tottenham, the president of the Kentucky Public Retirees, to talk about the challenges facing people on state pensions and what they need from the Kentucky legislature right now. Larry, great to have you with us today.
- [00:41]
B
Thank you for being. I appreciate being here.
- [00:43]
A
Yeah. And you are currently the president of the Kentucky Public Retirees and have been doing that for a while. Right.
- [00:49]
B
Right. This is my tenth year.
- [00:51]
A
Okay.
- [00:52]
B
So I. And I'll probably get two more coming this summer, so. Yeah, that's fine. I enjoy doing it. This is what I call my retirement job.
- [00:58]
A
Yes.
- [00:59]
B
And so it's. It's. I enjoy doing it because what I found was that. Right. Right after I retired was that my retirement system was not in as good a shape as what I had thought after getting nice little statements every August for 35 years. And I'd gone to a pension board meeting, and it wasn't. It didn't sound good. So I thought this bears some. Just watching. Paying attention.
- [01:26]
A
Right. You got to take care of this. Now. Let's start back, though, because you said 35 years, that is a long time to be in a job. And you've been a public servant here in Kentucky, working with the Kentucky park system. Right. How did you start out?
- [01:44]
B
I met some gentlemen. We were going to Kentucky business College in Lexington back in 1975, and I met there was like three or four of the gentlemen from the Frankfurt office going to there. And we just sat around one evening during break and talking about it, and they said, well, you need to come and work for parks. At the time, I was at Howard Johnson's in Lexington, which is no longer there.
- [02:03]
A
Right.
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B
But I went up and interviewed and talked to him, and before I knew it, May 16, 1975, I was at Fort Boonsboro Snack Bar as a cook.
- [02:11]
A
Nice. And you went from there and worked.
- [02:15]
B
Yourself up and retired as deputy commissioner.
- [02:17]
A
Nice. So you've been to all of the state parks in Kentucky?
- [02:22]
B
All the. One.
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A
Okay.
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B
One historic site.
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A
And so which one is your favorite?
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B
Well, I spent most of my time at Lake Cumberland and did a lot of work there doing renovations and all this other stuff. So Lake Cumberland was mine. Now, my wife and daughter will say it should have Been Kentucky Dam Village, because they liked that better. But I like Lake Cumberland better. And Connecting was right under that. But I like Lake Cumberland better.
- [02:48]
A
Very good. I mean, I love Lake Cumberland, too. I remember going there as a kid. I mean, it's so beautiful and be able to swim and boat and everything. It's such a treasure for here in Kentucky.
- [03:00]
B
Yeah, I never did any of that stuff, but, yeah, I liked it.
- [03:02]
A
And one of the things that we sometimes tend to forget is that these parks have to be managed, they have to be groomed, they have to be taken care of. And that requires public servants. And those public servants, not billionaires, right?
- [03:19]
B
No, no, no. I could have probably made more money in the private sector.
- [03:22]
A
Yeah.
- [03:23]
B
But no, I think at one point we probably had the best staff of any. How to put them up against anybody in the system.
- [03:31]
A
And after those many years serving us here in Kentucky, you took on being an advocate for retirees because of the pension system and what was happening. Can you give us an idea of sort of the state of the state for retirees right now in Kentucky in.
- [03:51]
B
2026 for we retirees, it's far better than it was five, six, seven years ago. All of our pension plans are improving in their funding ratios. The investments are doing well. We have very competent management and staff out at Kentucky Pensions Authority. And they like me, I like them, and they like what we do. The executive director before the current one basically said I was a watchdog, which I never thought of myself that way, but because I watched every meeting, every committee meeting, every. Every board meeting, I think I've done 500 since, like, 2013. And I write something up and put on a Facebook page, and basically that is for my members to read and anybody else that wants to. So I've become kind of intimate with. They're going from an outside perspective, right?
- [04:42]
A
Well, you are the expert. And retirees here in Kentucky are frankly lucky to have somebody like you sort of hawking all of this stuff for many, many years and understanding it.
- [04:54]
B
Well, I hope it's appreciated, but like I said, I enjoy doing it. Because I want to know, like I said, when I watch. Went to my first board meeting and things were not as I had thought. I'm happy that I've watched it improve over the years and gotten to where it is today.
- [05:12]
A
And retirees, of course, are. Many of them are on fixed incomes. And I mean, are you concerned with the rising cost of living because of rising prices, rising energy prices? You know, how does that affect your group?
- [05:31]
B
Well, it affects everyone. I mean, not just retirees. It affects everyone. But retirees in our case are particularly vulnerable because we've not seen our primary income, which in most cases will be your retirement check. We've not seen that change since 2011. And if you go out to the Bureau of Labor Statistics website, it tells you that for a dollar in July 2011, you now need $1.43 as of November. And so that's a pretty substantial jump. So we've been advocating for the past several years with the legislature to do something, and the thing that seems to be the easiest, quickest, fixed, least damage to the retirement system is the 13th check. And so that's what we're advocating for and hope that it comes out in this session.
- [06:18]
A
Yeah. The cost of living has gone up, but there hasn't been an increase in retirement.
- [06:23]
B
No. And Social Security has changed a little bit. But when you look at, at least in my case, in the totality of my income, the change is a small increase compared to what you need. But, you know, like, everybody, everybody adjusts. And some people have to adjust a lot more than I do. So I'm fortunate that 35 years have helped me with a fairly comfortable retirement.
- [06:47]
A
Right. Talk to us about health care and retirees. I mean, do the retirees from. That you represent, are they dealing with the health care issues that, that everyone else is dealing with in terms of the Affordable Care act and, you know, cuts to Medicaid and that's.
- [07:03]
B
Yeah. Well, as retirees, obviously, as you get older, things start popping up. But we have a, we have a Medicare Advantage plan, which I know not everybody likes, but I personally have never had any issues with it. Humana administers it. I've never had any problems with it. KPBA pays the premium, and they got hit with a 33% increase going into this year. And. But I've never had trouble. Now, I know that's not universal. And if you, If I've had to, if I had to insure someone else, you know, a spouse or dependent child or something, then that, that cost would have gone up like it does every year. So that would have been something. I get a single plan and I don't pay for it.
- [07:47]
A
Yeah.
- [07:47]
B
So I can't, I can't complain about prescriptions. The Inflation Reduction act threw us that $2,000 limit. That was nice because I didn't pay for prescriptions for a long time last year. And so in my case. And I'll qualify that. It's my case only. I think it's wonderful.
- [08:10]
A
Okay, well, that's Great.
- [08:11]
B
But it's not the same thing. None of our people have to do with Affordable Care act premiums. No, I know my granddaughter is going to face that this year because she turns 26 and she's back in school. In fact she started today physician's assistant training at uk. So when she gets out she's going to have to buy the insurance somewhere and she's going to be impacted. We had mentioned the 13th check. The 13th check is an idea that basically the retirees would get a 13 check equivalent to the other 12 they received during the year.
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A
Okay.
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B
It's very, very simple. That's all it is.
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A
And it's a cost of living adjustment.
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B
It's a one time thing. Okay. And so if we get it, we probably won't see anything like it for a long time. If you do the arithmetic and you compare it with the with the COLA that we got Last which is 1 1/2 percent, a 13th check is an equivalent to about over 5 1/2 years of getting 1 1/2% added to your check. So in one sense it is a colab. It runs out five years, five plus years. But it's a lump sum. And we advocating that because in terms of the legislators who have to fund doesn't affect the unfunded liability they have to pony up. In ker's case it's $100 million which I know it's a lot of money but it's something that's one and done. And we just, it has been in talking to legislators it's been an easier sell for them to accept and understand because you talked about colon their eyes glaze over. No, we can't do that. Yes you can. If you pre fund it. That's the whole thing. You've got to pre fund anything.
- [09:50]
A
And so what is an unfunded liability? What is that?
- [09:55]
B
The unfunded liability is the difference between what the pension system owes present and future retirees versus how many assets you have in it right now my plan which is Ker non hazardous plan is 28.9% funded, which is terrible. But five years ago it was 12.9% funded. So in five years it's grown, it's jumped 4 percentage points in the last year and so it's on a trajectory to 100% funded. All the plans are amortized and expect to be fully funded by 2049 which is a long time. But you know you don't pay off your house right. In a long time. It's a 30 year amortization so that's what they set up in 2019. And so it's I'll be 96 and like I tell everybody I want to, I want to put on my cremaine's urns. He lived long enough to get a co op. That's what I want to put on her and you know, if it happens.
- [10:52]
A
But it used to be funded, I mean it used to be up to 80% funded. So how did it get down to 12?
- [10:58]
B
Well, actually in the turn of the century, which is a weird thing to say, but in fiscal year 2000 it was 130. My plan was 132% funded. All of them were funded over 100% in our case the governors and legislators. In those ensuing years, for at least 10, 12 years the boards did not have accurate information to pass on to the governor and the legislators. And then we got the information that were passed on. They didn't fund it correctly, they didn't fund it properly. At the same time, the retirees were getting COLAS based on the consumer price index, which ran between 2 and 3 and a half percent. And so you're just draining more money out than what you're putting in and what your investments allow to grow and things like that. And so it was just, it was just a fast, it was just a fast drain on assets. So between fiscal year 2000 and fiscal year 1819, we lost 90 plus percent, 95, 100% of our money. And fortunately in the mid 2000 and teens, people finally thought, you know, this could be. We got down in 20, I think, I think it's 2019. We got down, like I said, the 12.9. We had barely $2 billion in assets. And at that time they were pumping out a billion dollars and a half billion and a half dollars worth of pension payments. And as I said, we were one recession close, are one recession short of going unfunded, totally zero blanket out.
- [12:26]
A
And this happened from legislators and governors on both sides of the aisle. This happened under their wash. It wasn't necessarily a partisan failure here.
- [12:36]
B
No, it was just they had gotten used to it and it just kept going. And like I said, it affected all five Pedro plans. The difference between ours and on the CER side, which is the county and cities, is employers had to pay what was recommended. That still wasn't enough, but they had to pay what was recommended. And so they didn't take, okay, here's your number. You're supposed to, but we're going to cut it to half and we pay half of it. They pay what they were supposed to. So it got down to below 50%, but it didn't hit 12.9.
- [13:08]
A
Talk to us about when you hear people say we can't afford this. You know, you've said before, we can afford textbooks and we can afford to pay for, you know, the retirees that have served us. But there's a lot of people that are like, well, we don't have enough money. We got to cut somewhere. What do you say to that?
- [13:29]
B
Well, when I started, retirement was the last thing on my mind. But I'm glad it was there. I mean, if I could have taken that money back in 1975 and spent on something else, I easily would have. And then I would have been a lot different shape today. Personally, I think everyone ought to have a pension. Companies used to do that, and it was just money that allowed them to just dump their pension benefits for their employees. And I think that was part of the decline of unions, because if, you know, unions would fight for pensions. Of course, in the state government, we didn't have unions, but this was something we always had. But I would say it's not so much. I don't think you should be asking why I deserve mine. I think the real question is why didn't you get one yourself? Why didn't you fight for one? And everyone now has the option to have a supplemental plan, 401ks or whatever. And even now for state employees, when you start as a state employee today, you're automatically enrolled in deferred compensation, which is basically what I call the third. Well, not just me, people call it the third leg of the retirement stool. Social Security, a pension, and then deferred comp. Or some other 401k plan. And so employees today are automatically enrolled in that. And it's. It's done. They have incredible retention rate. They've done it for several years now. And people are realizing we can't totally rely on Social Security. The pension benefits today can be changed. And so I've got to do something myself to do this. I've got to take some responsibility myself. If I'd been told it was all on me in 1975, then I probably would have not paid any attention until about 1990. But then it would have been mine. But like I said, I think the real question is why did. Why don't you have one? Why didn't your employer give you one? Rather than why, you know, why shame me for having one? It was a benefit that I didn't realize at the time.
- [15:31]
A
Yeah, But I often think about. Because I'm a. I'm a military retiree, so I get pension from the federal government. But I also look at it as, you want good people in these positions. They are public servants. They work for the state or the commonwealth. They work for our federal government. But they make things run. And you have to have good people. These are not positions where you make. As we started out talking to the very beginning, we're not billionaires. You know, we could make probably a lot more money in the private sector, but if we want these things to be available for us, whether it's the parks here in Kentucky or state police or teachers, or we want good people in these positions, we have to have good paying, you know, jobs, but also some benefits associated with that.
- [16:24]
B
Right. And I think over the past several years, Governor Beshear has kicked up the salaries, starting salaries for a lot of employees, which is much. Because even the state employees went for years without raises. And then, you know, every so often being 1% or 2% thrown in, and that there was a decline in employment. Part of that was because of the retirement payments that employers had to make for their employees, but part of it was because it was, you know, you could. You couldn't promise raises. When I was hired, I was promised 5% raises every year. That's still on the books. But I have discovered that the word notwithstanding is used very liberally in state budgets. And so notwithstanding, you're not getting a coat, you're not getting a raise this year. But. But yeah, it's. People don't look at what's called the Tier 3 level as good as the Tier 1, which is what I have. And it might not be. It's different, but it is something that a lot of employers now don't have. So it is something you just can't rely on it as much as you might think you should or could be able to. You should have to take some responsibility for it yourself.
- [17:34]
A
Yeah. Now you are running for office.
- [17:38]
B
I am.
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A
Tell us about that.
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B
Well, the K EE R S KRS, there's too many acronyms. The KRS board is made up of manufacturing KRSS. KRS is the Kentucky Retirement System. KRS has manages three pension plans, two for the KERS, which is state government employees, plus the state police. That board has nine members. Six are appointed by the governors and three are elected. Two of those three represent the kers, active and retired employees. The other one is state police. And so the two KERS system seats are up for election this year. And so that starts January 20th. And so I'm not sure when this will air, but January 20th is when the voting starts. So, yes, I'm one of five people running. I'm the only retiree, which personally, I think a retiree ought to have one of those two seats. And since I'm the only retirees, ta da. But it's not because of that. There was another gentleman, for reasons unknown, he withdrew his name. But I think retiree ought to be one of those seats. And so it's like I've been on the outside for 12, 13 years, and it's like I want to get on the inside and participate more.
- [18:54]
A
When is that election?
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B
January 20th is when the voting starts and it runs through the end of February.
- [18:58]
A
And who gets to vote?
- [18:59]
B
Any active and retired KERS employee or retiree.
- [19:04]
A
And how do they vote?
- [19:05]
B
If they want to, they will receive a ballot. If they. If kids, ppa, which is Kentucky Public Pension Authority, the umbrella system. If they have an email for you, you will get an electronic ballot. If they don't, or you ask for a paper ballot, you will get a paper ballot and then you have basically six weeks to vote.
- [19:26]
A
Well, we need you.
- [19:27]
B
Well, I'm, I've done this before and lost, and so I'm hoping this time is the third time. Technically, that's the charm. Because I really want to be on the board.
- [19:39]
A
Yeah. Because if you're a retiree in Kentucky, you know, you've got somebody here who knows the system, wants to be your advocate and is, you know, somebody who's going to fight for you. And I just feel like, you know, people need to know that.
- [19:53]
B
Well, I appreciate that. Like I said, things are much calmer than they used to be, but you still have to stay on top of it or it can fall apart pretty fast. So I'm hoping I can convince enough people that I've got the qualifications for it.
- [20:10]
A
Yeah, that's great. Now, tell us, before we wrap up, is there anything that you can think of that people need to know about retirees here in Kentucky or things that are happening at the federal level that affect you in your group? You have 15 seconds to talk to the American people. What would you, what would you tell them? World peace. Go. There's a lot of misconceptions about, you know, that's out there. You may want to be able to address some of that. You know, what do you think?
- [20:47]
B
Well, without diving too deeply, pay attention and don't give up. Things will be better.
- [20:59]
A
That's huge, that optimistic tone. But I also Think the pay attention suggestion for listeners and people, Americans out there is so important because there's so much happening that isn't always on the front pages. And it can be happening to you if you're not paying attention.
- [21:22]
B
Well, I belong to several groups, but I belong to another group, Kentucky Associate alliance of Retired Americans and they're affiliated with the unions. Everybody except me is a union person. How I've managed to squeeze into that. I got drafted is what it was. But I just got to go to the state AFL CIO meeting a couple months ago and the new slogan is Stand up and fight back. And so I think that is a very valid. Got a hat that says that. And I think that's a very valid, a very valid thing right now. Things just need to calm down. I mean just gotta calm down and. But it'll get better.
- [22:14]
A
What is your message to the Kentucky state legislature here in 2026?
- [22:19]
B
Well, as I mentioned before, we have been advocating for a 13th check for several years now. What I would tell each one of them is first of all, yes, it is possible for you to give us this 13th check. It's written in the law that way. Just have to pre fund it. But consider the fact that retirees have not gotten a change in their cost of living allowance, in their inner paychecks, in their retirement checks. Sorry. Since 2011. And the way the law is written, there's no automatic increase until full funding in 2049. Now stop and think about whether you could survive on the money that you were making in 2011 for 30 more years out to 2049. Well, it'd be more than this 38 years, you know, could you survive on that? And the 13 check is not a total cure all, but it's something that would give retirees some extra funds to do with whatever they think is important to them. It's all individualized. But just, just put yourself in that situation. I don't want to poke it too much, but legislators now get the same increases that state employees get. They've gotten 3% for the past three, four years. If the governor's proposed 2% they would get the same thing. You mean my retirees, their pension benefits are static and just to be good point, that ain't good.
- [23:47]
A
Yeah. What is your message at the federal level to US Congress, to US Senate right now? Do you have one?
- [23:56]
B
Well, for better or worse, I don't think things that the federal government does affects my retirement system. It did affect my health insurance in the fact that it affected my cost of my Prescriptions. But there are a lot of people, you know, retirees as well as, you know, not necessarily maybe state government retirees, but retirees that need health care subsidies. Like I mentioned earlier, my daughter's going to need them next year when she turns 26. And again, look outside your own little bubble because you know, things in the, in the United States, out in the, in the states, rural, urban areas are not the same thing as they are in D.C. just listen to your constituents. Don't hide. My representative does not have town hall meetings and we, Franklin kind of got gerrymandered into his district and we don't. He doesn't come out. And you can't live in that bubble and truly represent us. And most of them don't come out. Need to come out and see what's going on.
- [25:15]
A
Yeah, I've been an advocate for things like term limits and things like that because I just feel like you get sucked into Washington D.C. and then you're not really representing the people that you know, were sent to me.
- [25:27]
B
Yeah, I would support term limits. The people that don't say, well, the voters ought to be able to vote them out. Well, you can't.
- [25:33]
A
It's very hard when you're gerrymandering and.
- [25:37]
B
The dark money, you can't vote them out.
- [25:40]
A
It's very, very hard because you get a member of Congress who now has a handshake deal with some billionaire or some corporation or something that's going to put millions of dollars of dark money in to make sure that they are reelected over and over again. And, and that happens. You better believe that happens.
- [26:01]
B
You have people in their 30, 40 plus years they don't know.
- [26:07]
A
Yeah. Well, great to talk with you today. I appreciate your time. This is really important to share.
- [26:12]
B
Well, I appreciate the invitation. Thank you.
- [26:19]
C
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