County judge says retirement-rate drop frees roughly $700,000 for proposed budget

The Johnson County judge told commissioners that an actuarial calculation from the county retirement system reduced the required employer contribution by about 1 percentage point for the coming year, a change reflected in the proposed budget. “It made about a $700,000 difference to the budget,” the judge said, noting the county intentionally remains slightly overfunded to buffer against market shocks.

The judge emphasized that the adjustment does not affect employees or retirees but changes the county's contribution based on payroll. The court said it has historically overfunded by design to protect employees from investment losses; this year's reduction still leaves the fund overfunded by about 1 percentage point and that amount was baked into the proposed figures the court reviewed.