The Illinois Teachers’ Retirement System’s actuarial changes will drive up taxpayer contributions by $421 million in 2017. These latest changes prove Illinois’ pension math doesn’t work.
More realistic investment return assumptions by the Teachers’ Retirement System mean Illinois taxpayer contributions to the fund could rise by hundreds of millions of dollars. Ending teacher pension pickups would alleviate the burden on Illinois taxpayers.
The Illinois Teachers’ Retirement System’s adoption of more realistic investment return assumptions would cause the system’s unfunded liabilities to grow by about $6 billion above their current $62 billion level.
Mayor Larry Russell was charged in Whiteside County on one count of stealing $764 from a city bank account.
Due to changes in investment and demographic assumptions, the State Employees’ Retirement System’s debt is even worse than previously realized; this will require an extra $320 million each year from Illinois taxpayers by 2018.
Under former Gov. Jim Edgar’s pension ramp, unfunded pension liabilities have increased nearly $100 billion despite taxpayers contributing $16.4 billion more to the five state-run pension systems than required under the Edgar plan.
Chicago’s four city-run pension funds’ poor returns on investment in 2015 are a good reminder why defined-benefit pensions are a failure for both taxpayers and government workers.
On May 30, the General Assembly voted to override Gov. Bruce Rauner’s veto of Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s plan to delay payments to Chicago’s police and fire pension funds – at a cost to Chicago taxpayers of an additional $18.6 billion over the next 40 years.
Thanks to new government reporting standards, Chicago’s municipal-workers and laborers pension funds’ debt doubled in 2015 to more than $21 billion. That’s $20,500 of pension debt per Chicago household.
Recently retired career state workers receive an average annual pension of $63,000. On top of this, more than 60,000 workers in Illinois’ State Employees’ Retirement System participate in Social Security.
The Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s relative health compared with other government-worker pension funds is only due to its ability to force localities to fund it at the expense of other pension funds and vital local services.
Despite being sentenced to 15 months in prison for a financial crime intended to cover up his sexual abuse of high school students, former U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert will continue to receive $28,000 annual pension payments for his six years as an Illinois state representative.
Illinois’ public colleges and universities used to be affordable, but schools have increased tuition from 74-112 percent over the last decade to help pay for administrative hiring sprees and skyrocketing pensions.
Retirement ages, COLAs and out-of-sync pension payouts