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…
On January 13, 2011, the Civic Federation sent this letter to Governor Quinn urging him to sign Senate Bill 3778. Click here to read a Civic Federation blog post on the bill. Dear Governor Quinn: The Civic Federation urges you to sign Senate Bill 3778, a bill that will end the Seniors Ride Free program. This program has strained the resources of public transit agencies while allowing seniors who can afford to pay their fair share the ability to ride for free. SB3778 will limit free rides…
On February 14 Governor Quinn signed into law Public Act 096-1527 which effectively ended the Seniors Ride Free program instituted by former Governor Rod Blagojevich and restricts free ride eligibility only to low-income seniors. The Civic Federation commends the Governor and General Assembly for taking this action. As detailed in the blog post below, the Seniors Ride Free program has proven to be a major revenue drain for transit agencies across Illinois. As this article reports, transit…
The Civic Federation's legislative priorities for 2011 include public pension reform, requiring state government to develop and implement a capital improvement plan, the dissolving of the Illinois International Port District, creating a new governing board for the Cook County Forest Preserve District, reinstating means-tested transit discounts for seniors, requiring large counties to hold budget hearings and produce timely annual audits, enacting tax increment financing reporting reform,…
The Civic Federation supports the Chicago Transit Authority’s (CTA) proposed FY2011 budget of $1.3 billion but has significant concerns for the agency in the longer term. The budget is a 5.2% or $66.7 million increase from the adopted FY2010 budget of $1.2 billion. The proposed FY2011 budget maintains the current level of transit service for the Chicagoland area. However, it is precariously balanced on $83.0 million in anticipated payments from the State which have not yet…
Illinois Governor Pat Quinn recently announced his plans for $500 million in mass transit infrastructure improvements across the State. $442.7 million of that will go to the Regional Transit Authority for repairs to the Chicago Transit Authority’s rail infrastructure, the rehabilitation of Metra train stations, and new vehicles and a system-wide radio system for Pace. Click here for a list of all RTA projects. Click here for a list of all non-RTA projects. The funding for all these improvements…
All ten Chicago-area local government pension funds analyzed annually by the Civic Federation had negative investment returns in fiscal year 2008 for a total investment loss of $7.1 billion.[1] The average FY2008 rate of return for the eight funds with a January 1 to December 31 fiscal year was -25.3%, down from +8.1% the previous year. Rates of return ranged from -14.8% to -33.3% in FY2008, with returns for the Chicago Fire fund being the lowest. The Park District fund and the Chicago Teachers…
The total unfunded liabilities of the ten major Chicago-area public pension funds reached $18.5 billion in fiscal year 2008. That is an increase of over $15.1 billion dollars in ten years, up from $3.4 billion in fiscal year 1999. To put $18.5 billion in perspective, it is $5,821 of unfunded pension liabilities per Chicago resident. The debt grows to $10,037 per person when you add the State pension funds. The unfunded liability for the four City of Chicago pension funds alone is $…
As reported in the Civic Federation’s latest report on ten local government pension funds, the most recent audited financial statements of the Chicago firefighters’ pension fund showed a market value funded ratio of only 27.2%. The Chicago police fund was close behind at only 34.7%. What do these numbers mean? Funded ratio is the most basic indicator of pension fund status. It is the ratio of assets to liabilities and can be expressed using either the current market value of assets or…
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 2008 actuarial valuation reports and financial statements of the retirement plans for the City of Chicago, Chicago Park District, Chicago Public Schools, Cook…
