This article discusses findings in the Civic Federation’s “Status of Local Pension Funding Fiscal Year 2009” report. The article focuses on the decline in the ratio of active employees paying into the various pension systems to the number beneficiaries receiving retirement benefits.
Civic Federation President Laurence Msall discusses findings in the Federation’s “Status of Local Pension Funding Fiscal Year 2009” report.
(CHICAGO) A Civic Federation report released today found that the funding status of ten major Chicago-area public employee pension funds continued to deteriorate in FY2009. The group’s annual survey of local pension trends found that each fund’s actuarially smoothed ratio of assets to liabilities fell in FY2009, the most recent year for which comparable data are available. None of the ten funds had a ratio above 80%, ranging from 36.5% in the Fire Fund to 79.4% in the Laborers’ Fund. “Despite…
This report analyzes basic financial data on ten major local government employee pension funds in Cook County. It is intended to provide lawmakers, pension trustees, pension fund members and taxpayers with the information they need to make informed decisions regarding public employee retirement benefits. The report reviews fiscal year 2009 actuarial valuation reports and financial statements of the retirement plans for the City of Chicago, Chicago Park District, Chicago Public Schools, Cook…
In discussions of the State of Illinois’ budget, no issue is more contentious—or more confusing—than recent spending trends. Simply stated, is Illinois spending more or less than it was two years ago? As previously indicated on this blog, the answer depends on what is meant by spending. According to preliminary information (available at MuniOs.com) provided by the State on January 21, 2011 in connection with an upcoming bond sale, General Funds appropriations are projected to decline by $1.2…
The Institute for Illinois’ Fiscal Sustainability at the Civic Federation recently described how some State of Illinois pension bond proceeds could be transferred to the State’s General Funds and used for other operating purposes. The final legislation authorizing the state to borrow money in order to make its FY2011 pension contribution may open the door for the state to transfer some of the loan proceeds from the pension funds into the State’s General Funds. The transfer would be made if the…
The Civic Federation supports the FY2011 Forest Preserve District of Cook County budget of $198.0 million, which includes both operating and capital expenditures. The proposed FY2011 budget represents a decrease of $236.3 thousand, or 0.1%, from the FY2010 proposed budget. We commend the District for holding its property tax levy flat at a time when Cook County residents are facing serious economic hardships. The District has also maintained adequate reserve funds per its fund balance policy.…
(CHICAGO) Even though the staff of the Forest Preserve District of Cook County completed and filed its budget three months ago and is now over three weeks into the 2011 fiscal year, the dual board of Commissioners that governs both the District and Cook County has taken no action to review or debate the spending plan. Unfortunately, this inattention is only the most recent example of the negative consequences of continuing the dual board structure. The Civic Federation calls on state officials…
In addition to the tax increase and spending limits bill approved in the last hours of the 96th Illinois General Assembly, the legislature authorized a new round of pension borrowing with provisions that could lead to hundreds of millions in bond proceeds being transferred to the State’s General Funds and used for operations. Almost a year after the Governor proposed borrowing to make the State’s required FY2011 pension payment, the General Assembly passed a pension-borrowing bill on…
This article discusses how employees hired by the State of Illinois before January 1, 2011 will be placed into a more lucrative pension plan than those hired on or after that date. The Civic Federation says that after the State passed a pension reform bill in the spring, the pension systems needed time to prepare for the new plan.
