KPERS seeks funding to replace 20‑year pension administration system; agency outlines budget and modernization timeline

KPERS Chief Fiscal Officer Chris Holmes briefed the committee on the agency operating budget request and on planned expenditures for a multi‑year pension administration modernization project. Holmes described four budget components: general operations, investment‑related expenses, death and disability administration, and the KPERS 457 deferred compensation plan. He said most itemized expenditures are paid from the KPERS trust fund and that benefit payments themselves are off‑budget for presentation purposes.

Budget numbers: Holmes gave the committee a high‑level view of KPERS’ fiscal‑year requests: the revised FY26 operating request around $38.3 million and FY27 around $43.0 million; modernization‑related contractual services were listed as about $15.1 million in FY26 and $18.4 million in FY27. Investment management fees were reported in a no‑limit fund and KPERS staff noted investment expenses vary with assets and returns (staff estimated investment‑related expenses at about $53.8 million for FY26 and $54.7 million for FY27, numbers driven by fees tied to asset size and performance).

Modernization (KAPS) overview: Deputy Executive Director for Modernization Marybeth Green told the committee KPERS is replacing its pension‑administration system with a new system (branded internally as KAPS). She summarized goals: modern user portals for members and employers, higher security, digital transactions, centralized calculators and workflows, and migrated case images. The project will follow an 11‑iteration, 5‑year schedule with a “big bang” rollout at the end of the program. Green said the modernization workstreams include requirements and design, forms and letters, employer interface certification, imaging (KPERS must migrate more than 4,000,000 document images), data cleansing and migration, and organization change management.

Operational impacts: staff said the modernization will change employer interfaces (1,500 participating employers must be coordinated and certified) and will create more web‑based services for members, including calculators and refund processing. Green said the member portal work will be done late in the project to allow the project team to incorporate current consumer technologies during design. KPERS staff said the agency is on schedule and within the budget reported to the committee.

Ending: Committee members asked logistics questions (imaging, data reconciliation, timing and employer readiness). Staff said they have an employer advisory panel, are piloting image migration, and will phase employer certification as iterations are completed.