1. How many people are getting pensions, and what are the largest payments?
A: There are about 150,000 people on the pension rolls, including 260 people who retired 40 years ago or longer.
School districts, including $123 million to 4,300 retirees from Metro Nashville Schools, state workers, public universities, cities, are in this system.
Across the system, there were 525 people who got pensions for $100,000 or higher last year.
That’s as the average annual pension is a modest $21,000.
The largest pension — $306,000 — goes to Margaret Mahery, the former executive director of the Tennessee Municipal League, whose Risk Management Pool provides insurance to Tennessee cities. She retired in 2021.
There’s 9 more people who collect pensions upwards of $200,000.
2. Lots of state pension systems are underfunded - how financially stable is Tennessee’s pension system?
A: Tennessee has one of the best funded pensions systems in the country, funded at 97% of what it has promised to future retirees.
But even so, should public servants have pensions higher than the governor? Gov. Bill Lee’s salary is $224,000 — there are six people with pensions higher than that.
Other states cap it.