Although the Illinois Supreme Court has ruled that altering pension benefits of current government workers violates the Illinois Constitution, there are still actions – from politicians voluntarily reforming their own pension system, to allowing municipal bankruptcy – that Illinois can take to set government-worker pensions on a more fiscally sound path.
Without real reforms, low investment yearly returns of 4 to 6 percent over the next 28 years could cost Illinois taxpayers anywhere from $100 billion to $200 billion above what they’re already expected to pay in contributions.
Illinois Comptroller Leslie Munger announced the state will delay a $560 million pension payment as the state’s government-pension-driven fiscal crisis worsens.
CPS leaders have brought the teachers’ pension fund to the brink of insolvency. Now they’re counting on taxpayers to clean up the mess.
Illinois taxpayers are forced – by law – to pay for local-government pensions above all else.
More than 1,000 dead Illinoisans received pension payments from 2010 to 2014, according to government records.
How Illinois politicians turned what was meant to provide government workers with retirement security into a political slush fund.
A challenge from the SEIU is looking to set back the city’s attempt to stave off the Chicago Park District's pension-fund insolvency.
Reforming Illinois’ Teachers’ Retirement System is the only hope for saving the pension fund from insolvency and providing the accountability and retirement security that teachers and taxpayers deserve.
Chicago Public Schools CEO Forrest Claypool calls for an end to “pickups” of employee pension contributions, which would save the cash-strapped district $174 million a year.
The president of the Chicago Teachers Union defied the school board to require teachers to pay more of their own retirement costs.
HB 422 mandates more frequent examination of Illinois’ pension funds and promotes a much-needed increase in state retirement fund oversight.
Politicians have proven incapable of making the decisions required to maintain the health of Illinois’ pension systems, as they lack the knowledge and actuarial understanding to do so.
The General Assembly Retirement System is one of the country’s worst-run retirement funds.