Nebraska lawmakers have voted to override Gov. Dave Heineman’s veto on a public-school retirement bill. The 32-1 vote was 2 more than the minimum needed for an override.

In his veto message, Heineman criticized a part of the bill that doubled the state’s retirement contribution from 1% to 2%, and took issue with assumptions that the investments would see 8% annual returns, calling those estimates unrealistic.

He said the bill would cost state taxpayers more than $500 million over the next 25 years on top of the current $20-million contribution and breaks the tradition of having employees, employers and taxpayers address the issue equitably.

Some lawmakers objected to the latter claim, pointing out that while the teachers’ contribution aren’t being increased, they were scheduled to drop in 2017 and that new hires will get reduced benefits.

Others took Heineman to task for not proposing his own solution to the funding gap in his budget, with Lincoln Senator Kathy Campbell pointing out that at no time during the bill’s progression through the legislature did the governor ever offer an alternative.

The “funded ratio” for 3 of the state’s 3 “defined benefit plans”…those for school and Highway Patrol employees…fell below the strongly recommended 80% threshhold with the school plan now 77% funded and the Highway Patrol fund at 78%.

Retirement Systems Committee Jeremy Nordquist of Omaha says if the veto had stood, the state would have needed to put $48 million in the plans by July 1 and another $60 million next year…money not budgeted. Now, he says, the state is moving to confront its $2.2 billion, legally-binding pension obligation.