Illinois Times: Municipal pensions eat more, but they’re still hungry
Posted on Thursday January 26, 2012
Illinois Times reports: Whether the city of Springfield is facing a pension crisis in police and firefighter retirement systems depends on who’s doing the talking. Mayor Mike Houston and Bill McCarty, director of the city’s budget and management office, say that while pension costs are always a concern, the city is in relatively good shape. More

Crains: Speaker Madigan Forms Special Pension Committee
Posted on Thursday January 19, 2012
Crains Chicago Business reports that House Speaker Michael Madigan (D-Chicago) is creating a special committee to investigate how the 5 state-funded pensions systems are investing their money. In an unusual move, the Speaker has appointed House Republican Minority Leader Tom Cross (R-Plainfield) to chair the committee. More

State Journal-Register: Lawmakers Named to Pension Reform Group
Posted on Tuesday January 17, 2012
The State Journal-Register reports that the four legislative leaders have named representatives to Governor Quinn's pension reform working group. The four legislators include Senator Michael Noland (D-Elgin), Senator Bill Brady (R-Bloomington), Representative Elaine Nekritz (D-Des Plaines), and Representative Darlene Senger (R-Naperville). More

As part of the Pension Fairness for Illinois Communities Coalition, the Illinois Municipal League has dedicated both time and resources to bringing about public safety pension reform for Illinois municipalities. The IML will use our "Pension Policy Page" to communicate important information to our members regarding this important effort to win essential cost-saving reforms.

The IML understands that our members may have many questions about what has transpired to date on the pension reform issue. The IML has published an article to inform our membership about what has happened over the last few months and why. In addition to this article, the IML is making available some of the key documents upon which the negotiation team relied to explain the pension issue to the legislators involved in the negotiations. Our members are encourged to share these documents with their own legislators.

• Report Provided to the House Subcommittee on Public Safety Pension Reform
  Includes recommendations for reform, an overview of how the police and firefighter pension funds work, pension fund demographics, and a 10-year statistical trend analysis.
  
  
• One-page Summary of Report Provided to the House Subcommittee on Public Safety Pension Reform
  Highlights the key points within the report.
  
  
• What Happened with Public Safety Pension Reform?
  Explains what transpired in the push for police and firefighter pension reform during the 2010 Spring Legislative Session.
  
  
• Proposed New Plan Versus Current Plan Benefit Levels
  Compares the current benefit structure with the new benefit structure proposed within Amendment #3 to HB 5873.
  
  
• Department of Insurance Funded Rates for Police Pensions
  Shows what the funded rate is for each police pension fund according to the Illinois Department of Insurance (adjust chart size with plus/minus symbol).
  
  
• Department of Insurance Funded Rates for Fire Pensions
  Shows what the funded rate is for each firefighter pension fund according to the Illinois Department of Insurance (adjust chart size with plus/minus symbol).
  
  
• Comparative Municipal and Department of Insurance Contribution Trends
  Provides employer pension contributions versus the Department of Insurance recommended employer contributions (adjust chart size with plus/minus symbol).
  
  
• Cities With Pension Funds That Are Less Than 55% Funded
  Shows cities that could be "penalized" by having state monies and grants taken away by pension boards under Amendment #3 to HB 5873 (adjust chart size with plus/minus symbol).
  
  
• Police Retirement Benefit Chart
  Uses "simple math" to illustrate how long pension contributions last under specific assumptions and not intended to be actuarial (adjust chart size with plus/minus symbol).
  
  
• Firefighter Retirement Benefit Chart
  Uses "simple math" to illustrate how long pension contributions last under specific assumptions and not intended to be actuarial (adjust chart size with plus/minus symbol).

The IML Public Policy Pension Page is intended to serve as a leading resource to educate municipal officials, state leaders and the residents of Illinois' cities, villages and towns about the looming challenge to achieve and maintain financial stability within Illinois' municipal public safety pension funds. Achieving pension fund stability will also insure that scarce municipal budgetary resources are available to meet other important obligations of growing communities with diverse needs.