REPORTS Pension Solutions: reforming retirement age More than 50% of Illinois government pensioners retired at age 59 or younger. Read more… Pension Solutions: cost-of-living adjustments are supersizing state pensions More than 8,000 Illinois government retirees receive more than $100,000 in annual pension benefits. Read more… Illinois’ pension system lacks transparency Actuarial data need to be...

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...

Opponents of pension reform try to downplay Illinois’ $100 billion in official pension debt because it’s “not due at one point in time.” They like to compare the pension debt to a “mortgage,” which is paid over 30 years. But this argument is misleading, and here’s why: Illinois isn’t on the hook for just $100...

Detroit’s recent bankruptcy is sending cities and states a warning: taxpayers shouldn’t be taken for granted. Unfortunately, Illinois’ long-term pension plan does exactly that. Springfield still believes that taxpayers are passive sources of revenue. While state worker contributions to Illinois’ five pension systems have gone up by 75 percent since 1998, taxpayer contributions have gone...

Illinois has the nation’s worst-funded pensions. Each Illinois household can expect to pay more than $40,000 in additional taxes to cover the pension shortfall if no reforms are passed. The size of the pension crisis demands that state lawmakers pass the boldest reforms in the country. Fortunately, Illinois lawmakers can look to the examples other states have...

The Institute of Government and Public Affairs, or IGPA, a university-based research organization, recently developed a pension plan for Illinois. That plan was presented at a pension conference committee hearing earlier this month. But it’s not the type of reform Illinois’ needs. The IGPA plan fails to solve Illinois’ pension problem. Here are five reasons...