Over the summer, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker signed into law Public Act 102-0263, which makes changes to the funding schedule for the Chicago Park District’s pension fund, allows for pension obligation bonds and creates a third tier of benefits. The Park District Pension Fund has a complicated funding history that involves State pension reforms that were allowed to go into effect, then…
The Civic Federation released its annual analysis of the City of Chicago’s proposed budget this week. Included in the report was a section dedicated to the budgetary impact of the City’s four pension funds and evaluating trends in their funded status. This blog post reproduces that chapter for readers who might not otherwise see it. Pensions in the FY2022 City of Chicago Budget The City of…
As laid out in many Civic Federation blogs over the last several years, the State’s two pension buyout plans, which were enacted as part of the FY2019 budget legislation, were supposed to generate hundreds of millions of dollars of budgetary savings. But issues with implementation and with the savings projection itself meant that only a very small portion of those savings have actually been…
In a proposal to stabilize underfunded pensions for Forest Preserve District of Cook County employees and retirees, the Forest Preserves’ Conservation and Policy Council has appealed to the Cook County Board of Commissioners to add the Forest Preserves’ pension fund to an existing intergovernmental agreement (IGA) the County has with the Cook County Pension Fund. Cook County’s IGA allows the…
A recent report shows that Illinois’ statutorily required contributions to its five pension funds are expected to total $9.8 billion in the upcoming fiscal year. How much of the State’s budget will be devoted to pension payments? The answer is not as simple as it might appear and has been the subject of some confusion, including here and here. The main reason for the mistake is that most…
Click here to read the full report. Click here to read the press release for this analysis. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The Civic Federation supports Mayor Lightfoot’s proposed FY2020 local funds budget of approximately $9.9 billion, but with several significant concerns. Entering FY2020 Mayor Lightfoot faced a historic $838.2 million Corporate Fund budget deficit driven largely by a $281.2 million…
For more than a decade, the Civic Federation has strongly supported consolidation of hundreds of police and fire department pension funds across Illinois to improve investment returns and reduce administrative costs. The step is now being considered by the General Assembly following recommendations in October 2019 by Governor J.B. Pritzker’s task force on pension consolidation. Senate Bill 616…
2020 Civic Federation Legislative Priorities The Civic Federation's legislative priorities for 2020 include public employee pension reforms, consolidation of local government units in Illinois, enacting policies to rationalize the property tax system, creation of a Local Government Protection Authority, requiring the State of Illinois to…
Since the beginning of FY2009, the Cook County Pension Fund has seen an increase in its liabilities not covered by assets, or the unfunded liability, of nearly $3.8 billion. The increase is attributable to a number of factors and has fluctuated over the years. The following table presents the contributing factors that have increased or decreased the fund’s unfunded liability since the beginning…
A new pension buyout plan designed to save hundreds of millions of dollars for the State of Illinois in the fiscal year that just ended actually generated relatively minor savings in FY2019 and does not appear likely to meet the annual cost-reduction target over the next few years. The shortfall has occurred despite robust participation by members of the State Employees’ Retirement System (SERS…
