This article covers the Illinois Supreme Court’s consideration on March 11 of oral arguments for the State’s pension reform law. The court took the case under advisement. The Civic Federation said that if the court does not find the pension reforms constitutional, it should provide direction on how the State could maintain the current system without debilitating service cuts or extreme tax hikes…
Governor Bruce Rauner’s recommended budget for fiscal year 2016 includes a new plan for reducing the State of Illinois’ massive pension costs. As discussed here, the plan could cut the State’s unfunded pension liability by approximately $25 billion and save $2.2 billion on pension contributions from general operating funds in FY2016, according to the budget proposal. Proposed legislation on the…
This editorial discusses the significant financial challenges the City of Chicago is facing related to unfunded pension liabilities and debt levels. The editorial cites Civic Federation research and discusses recent reforms to the City’s Municipal and Laborers’ pension funds, saying the City’s Police and Fire pension funds will likely require similar reforms.
Two lawsuits seeking to overturn a pension reform law for the Chicago Municipal and Laborers’ funds have been put on hold pending the outcome of State pension litigation at the Illinois Supreme Court. Oral arguments for the State pension case have been scheduled for March 11, 2015. In December 2014, two lawsuits were filed in Cook County Circuit Court that challenge the constitutionality of…
In his first budget proposal for the State of Illinois, Governor Bruce Rauner recommended more than $4 billion in spending cuts and $2.2 billion in estimated pension savings to close a projected budget gap of over $6 billion in fiscal year 2016. The proposed $31.5 billion General Funds budget, issued on February 18, 2015, has steep cuts to many programs, including Medicaid and human…
The Civic Federation’s previous blog examined the long-term debt of eight major local governments in northeastern Illinois. This blog explores the unfunded pension liabilities of ten pension funds sponsored by local governments in the Chicago area using a per capita indicator based on unfunded pension liabilities. Between FY2004 and FY2013, pension obligations per capita for Chicagoans’…
In a report released today, the Civic Federation’s Institute for Illinois’ Fiscal Sustainability proposes a comprehensive five-year plan that responds to the dire reality of Illinois’ financial condition with painful, but necessary recommendations. The plan immediately stabilizes the State’s operating budget and establishes a sustainable long-term financial plan that would pay off Illinois’…
Prior to the release of the Governor’s annual budget recommendation, the Institute for Illinois’ Fiscal Sustainability at the Civic Federation releases an analysis of the State of Illinois’ fiscal condition and proposes a comprehensive five-year plan for achieving long-term fiscal sustainability for the State of Illinois. This plan responds to the dire reality of Illinois’ financial condition…
At the end of December, the Illinois Auditor General released the State Actuary’s annual report on the actuarial assumptions and valuations of the State’s five pension funds. In its report, according to State law, the State Actuary must evaluate whether the pension funds’ actuarial assumptions are reasonable. In prior years, the actuary has expressed reservations that three of the funds’ assumed…
The Civic Federation and IIFS blogs have written extensively about reductions to assumed rates of return on investment by State and some local public pension plans over the last several years. These changes are part of a nationwide trend, influenced partly by the low interest rate environment and by a larger debate over whether pension plans should use a risk-free rate of return to discount…
