Tucked above the highway in Hardin County is Silverleaf Sexual Trauma Recovery Services, a rape crisis and child advocacy center caught in a crisis of its own.
The center serves eight counties - Breckinridge, Grayson, Meade, Hardin, Larue, Washington, Nelson and Marion, providing education and prevention services along with therapy and treatment.
"The service we provide allow victims and survivors to get their treatment and healing for free," Silverleaf executive director Dr. Jillian Carden said.
According to Carden, the center helped 922 people in 2018, which more than doubled the number of people helped the previous year. Carden attributes the growth to an increase in the amount of staff and services offered, but as the number of people seeking help continues to grow, so too has Silverleaf's pension obligation.
"We still have more victims to serve, but we can't hire more people on this new rate," Carden said, adding that cuts to staff could also be possible.
RELATED: Gov. Bevin: Special session starts Friday for Kentucky General Assembly to address pension crisis
Silverleaf, a quasi-governmental agency that participates in the Kentucky Retirement System, has been required to pay just under 50 percent of its budget to the pension system, but beginning July 1, that percentage jumped to around 83.5 percent. Other quasi-governmental agencies across the state, like local health departments, regional universities and domestic violence shelters, have also been hit with similar hikes.
Gov. Matt Bevin, R.-Kentucky, announced Monday the special legislative session will begin Friday morning, tasking lawmakers with giving relief to Silverleaf and other quasi-agencies. The governor proposed a pension bill in May but did not have the necessary votes to pass it then.
In a statement Monday, the governor's office wrote in part, "This bill has been thoroughly vetted and improved with input from legislators. It is the only fiscally responsible plan that provides our regional universities and quasi-governmental agencies with a path to a sustainable future."
After weeks of absorbing the details of the Governor’s proposal to grant relief to the quasi-governmental agencies and regional universities, the time is now upon us to act before these groups fall over the fiscal cliff. This is an important first step in addressing pension issues brought about by years of poor governing by previous administrations," Kentucky Senate President Robert Stivers said in a release.
The governor's bill has been criticized by opponents who claim it lacks protections that would give the employees of affected agencies the option to keep their current benefits. KY 120 United has come out against the bill, claiming it poses legal challenges and would hurt the workers in the quasi-governmental agencies.
"They serve some of our most vulnerable Kentuckians and I'm not willing to sacrifice anybody," KY 120 United zone leader Jeni Bolander said. "We stand in solidarity with our brothers and sisters in state workers in state retirement systems, and an attack on one of them is an attack on all of us."
Democrats have released their own proposal, which in part would freeze retirement payments being paid by these agencies and redirect retiree health insurance payments to the pension side for five years.
While politics and Frankfort go hand in hand, Carden said she hopes lawmakers can work together on this issue.
"This trumps politics because victims aren't from a particular political party," she said. "Victims aren't necessarily younger than or older than voting age."
Carden said she would like to see the requirement percentage frozen at the previous rate, even if it's only temporarily to give lawmakers and the agencies more time to work on finding a sustainable solution.
Governor Bevin has not officially declared a special session. The proclamation is expected sometime this week.
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