The institution that collects retirement fund contributions for many of the state’s school employees is concerned about retirement incentive payments being offered in a bid to encourage some employees to retire early. Joel Walters of The Public School Retirement System of Missouri believes this practice will skew the numbers for projected benefit packages. Walters says retirement packages are based on assumptions such as how much an employee will earn in his or her final years of service. He says considering the incentive payments as salary will result in a need for higher contributions from employees and school districts.
