Senate Bill 1040, which would increase teacher contributions to their retirement system, won’t help reduce an unfunded liability in the fund of more than $17 billion, a Mackinac Center analyst told The Detroit News.

James Hohman, assistant director of fiscal policy, recently authored a study explaining to legislators in very clear terms what actions they could take to close the fund and remove the liability burden from taxpayers.

Sen. Roger Kahn, R-Saginaw, who introduced SB 1040, told The News he disagreed with Hohman’s analysis. A similar Mackinac Center study, however, showed that closing the defined-benefit retirement system for state employees hired after 1997 has saved taxpayers up to $4.3 billion in unfunded liability.

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