TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas officials are defending the state’s decision to sell $1 billion in bonds in an effort to boost the financial health of its public pension system after a rating agency’s report suggested the move won’t help much.

Kansas was selling the bonds Wednesday after legislators authorized them earlier this year. The Kansas Public Employees Retirement System expects to earn more from investing the bond proceeds than the state will pay to investors over 30 years.

The move is designed to help the pension system close a $9.5 billion gap between revenues and benefits owed retirees before 2034. Moody’s Investors Service said in a report Tuesday that issuing the bonds will do little to solve the problem and presents some risk.

But KPERS Executive Director Alan Conroy said there’s little risk

The pension system for Kansas teachers and government workers says its long-term financial health improved last year.

KPERS is citing a recent report showing a 3 percent decrease in the gap between its anticipated revenues and the cost of benefits promised to retirees over the next 18 years.

The figure was projected at $9.47 billion for the end of 2014. The year-end figure for 2013 was $9.77 billion. The difference was $298 million.

The state committed in 2012 to increasing its contributions to KPERS over time, and it also changed benefit plans for new employees.

The new estimate doesn’t reflect the state’s decision to issue $1 billion in bonds for the pension system to bolster its short-term financial health.