More than 129,000 Illinois public pensioners will see expected payouts of $1 million or more during retirement.
Illinois pensions 101: Paltry contributions yield million-dollar payouts
Across all five state retirement systems, typical career workers pay for about 5% of the cost of their pension benefits. They receive an average of $1.7 million to $3.6 million.
Illinois state and local governments spend most in nation on pensions
According to recent data, Illinois spends nearly double the national average on pensions, measured as a percentage of all state and local government spending.
Illinois’ pension funds invested in risky, alternative investments
Nearly 38 percent of Illinois Teachers Retirement System assets are in so-called alternative investments.
Each Illinois household on the hook for $56K in government-worker retirement debt
In 2010, the unfunded debt related to pensions and retiree health care costs for local and state government workers across Illinois was $203 billion, the equivalent of more than $43,000 per household. In just six years, the total debt Illinois households are on the hook for has jumped to $56,000, or 31 percent. That’s a $13,000 increase for each household. Total unfunded debt for state and local governments in Illinois now totals $267 billion.
State of Illinois’ pension debt jumps to $130 billion
Illinois households are now on the hook for $27,000, up 17 percent from 2015.
More than 50% of Illinois’ nearly 200K government pensioners retired at age 59 or younger
Illinois government workers are able to retire before the age of 60 while collecting most of their final average salary.
Pension reform: Time to means test COLAs
Illinois’ pension conference committee is once again rumored to be nearing a “fix” for the state’s pension mess. But if the pension conference committee is serious about saving the pensions of state retirees and workers who have dedicated their careers to public work, they will put an end to cost-of-living-adjustments, or COLAs, for government retirees...