Missouri Treasurer Eric Schmitt has described the pension situation as an impending "crisis. ": JEFFERSON CITY • The panel that oversees retirement benefits for most state employees voted Thursday to ask the Legislature for more money next fiscal year. For the first time, the contribution rate — which determines how much state agencies pay into the retirement system — would top 20 percent. The new rate would be 20.21 percent, an increase from this fiscal year’s rate of 19.45 percent. That means for every $100 an employee earns, the state would chip in $20.21 to the pension system.