This article discusses recent developments from the seven-member legislative conference committee appointed by Governor Quinn to find a solution to the State’s pension crisis. It cites the Civic Federation’s FY2014 State of Illinois Enacted Budget Analysis, which found the cost of pension payments accounts for one quarter of Illinois general fund revenue.
Four large local government pension funds in the Chicago area reduced their expected investment rates of return for fiscal year 2012. While intended to make the funds’ actuarial assumptions more realistic, these decisions will also have the effect of increasing the funds’ liabilities and reducing their funded ratios. The State of Illinois’ five retirement funds also recently reduced their expected investment rates of return and the Chicago Teachers’ Pension Fund trustees voted last month to…
This segment covers the release of the FY2014 Enacted Budget Analysis by the Civic Federation’s Institute for Illinois’ Fiscal Sustainability on October 2. The report warns this year’s budget could be a high-water mark for the State, with future years bringing sharp reductions in revenues and further consequences of the unresolved pension crisis.
This article discusses legislation backed by Mayor Emanuel that would delay funding reforms for the City’s severely underfunded police and fire funds. For both funds, requirements for additional contributions by the City of Chicago would be delayed from FY2015 to FY2018 when the contributions would begin to ramp up through FY2021. The Civic Federation said the rapid deterioration of the funds demonstrates a need for much more immediate action.
This article discusses a proposal for the City of Chicago’s severely underfunded police and fire pension funds that would delay the date when the City is required to start making contributions sufficient to bring the funded ratio of each fund to 90% in 40 years from FY2015 to FY2022. The Civic Federation said delay is not an option for the funds, which are less than 10 years from insolvency absent funding reforms.
Over the next few weeks, many Chicago-area local governments will be releasing their proposed budgets for fiscal year 2014. In preparation for the upcoming budget releases, this blog will recap the Civic Federation’s significant observations from our analyses of local governments’ proposed FY2013 budgets. The governments studied by the Civic Federation include: the City Colleges of Chicago and Chicago Public Schools (CPS) which have already released their FY2014 budgets, City of Chicago, Cook…
Failure to address pension crisis, plan for upcoming revenue loss threatens to erase progress on State’s backlog of unpaid bills (CHICAGO) – An analysis released today by the Institute for Illinois’ Fiscal Sustainability at the Civic Federation warned that the FY2014 budget may represent a high-water mark with future years bringing sharp reductions in revenues and further consequences of the unresolved pension crisis. The legislature’s failure to address these critical issues threatens to erase…
This analysis of the State of Illinois’ Fiscal Year 2014 Enacted Budget finds that the budget may represent a high-water mark, with future years bringing sharp reductions in revenues and further consequences of the unresolved pension crisis. Although the State reduced the backlog of unpaid bills to $5.8 billion, that progress is threatened by legislative failure to prepare for extreme financial challenges on the immediate horizon. Pension costs in FY2014 total $7.65 billion, including annual…
Since July 2013 each of the six local governments monitored by the Civic Federation with General Obligation bond debt has experienced downgrades to their bond ratings. These governments are the City of Chicago, Cook County, the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District (MWRD), the Forest Preserve District of Cook County, the Chicago Park District and Chicago Public Schools. In the past three months, Moody’s Investors Service issued downgrades for each of the six local governments, and Fitch…
This segment discusses a lawsuit filed by Illinois legislative leaders over Governor Quinn’s July veto that withholds pay from lawmakers until pension reform legislation is passed. The Civic Federation said the underlying issue of the lawsuit remains urgent regardless of the lawsuit’s outcome — the State’s pension costs continue to crowd out all other spending priorities.
