Broken: A guide to Illinois’ pension crisis
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...
REPORTS
Pension Solutions: reforming retirement age
More than 50% of Illinois government pensioners retired at age 59 or younger.
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.
Illinois’ pension system lacks transparency
Actuarial data need to be made fully transparent so the public can hold the government accountable for its poor performance in managing pensions and to ensure that the pension policy mistakes of the past 20 years are not repeated.
Pension contributions: taxpayers bear the burden of increasing pension costs
Taxpayer contributions to Illinois’ five pension systems have increased 427% since 1998.
The pension funding guarantee: an irresponsible plan
It is irresponsible for the state to guarantee an obligation over which it has no control. As long as Illinois maintains the unpredictable defined benefit pension structure, the state is providing an open-ended guarantee with the potential for severe and unforeseeable costs.
Lessons from the Edgar plan: why defined benefits can’t work
The state is destined to experience this same pension crisis in the near future unless it pushes for real reform.
Illinois pension debt more than doubles under Moody’s new rules
Under Moody’s new reporting rules, the five pensions funds will see their combined unfunded liabilities grow to more than $200 billion.
Budget Solutions 2014: pension reform
The only way to end Illinois’ pension crisis is to empower government workers by transitioning benefits for all future work to a defined contribution system.
POLICY POINTS
Average government pension in Illinois
The truth is that teachers and state workers who are retiring today after spending most or all of their careers in government receive pensions far greater than $32,000 – in some instances many times over.
Illinois general assembly retirement program is broke
The General Assembly Retirement System, or GARS, which offers a defined benefit plan for 294 General Assembly retirees, is nearly out of cash.
Budget Solutions 2014: pension reform plan
The only way to end Illinois’ pension crisis is to empower government workers by transitioning benefits for all future work to a defined contribution system.
BLOGS:
Five reasons why Madigan’s pension fix is a step backward
Illinois’ history is full of pension fixes that were billed as steps forward but have proven to be disastrous for Illinois and its residents. House Speaker Mike Madigan’s latest proposal is just the next in a long line of disastrous pension maneuvers
Pensions: contributions out of sync with payouts
That’s the problem with the current system: worker contributions are far too small relative to the pension benefits they’ll receive during their lifetimes.
Pension reform: time to means test COLAs
By protecting the COLAs of the wealthiest state retirees, the committee is putting the retirements of the vast majority of state workers, including teachers, at risk.
More than 50% of Illinois’ nearly 200K government pensioners retired at age 59 or younger
Workers who are forced to delay retirement are also expected to fund the retirements of the more than 50% of Illinois’ nearly 200,000 government pensioners who retired at the age of 59 or younger.
Illinois’ pension crisis keeps getting worse
Even if Illinois pension funds see investment returns that exceed expectations, that still won’t be enough to plug the largest fund’s hole.
Illinois will pay out $620 billion in pension benefits over the next 32 years
Illinois isn’t on the hook for just $100 billion in pension debt over the next 30 years. The truth is that Illinois will pay out $620 billion in pension benefits over the next 32 years.
Lessons from Vallejo: don’t avoid pension reforms
Illinois legislators and local officials could learn a thing or two from California cities that have buckled under the weight of too much debt.
Illinois’ state government pension crisis and the top 100 pensioners
Some top pensioners will collect more than 100 times the amount they contribute to the system throughout their lifetime.
Oops — another ‘error’ in Illinois’ pension mess
According to the Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability, the state’s pension shortfall grew by $76 billion from 1996 to 2012. Of that amount, nearly $45 billion came from some form of missed “expectation”
Illinois taxpayer contributions to state pensions skyrocket
Under the current system, Springfield expects taxpayers to contribute $385 billion over the next 30 years. That’s nearly $81,000 per household and more than four times what state workers are expected to contribute.
Seven in 10 Fortune 100 companies provide only defined contribution, 401(k)-style retirement plans
The core problem with defined benefit plans is that they are unmanageable — regardless of whether it’s a state or a private company in charge.
Alaska’s bold solution to its pension crisis
While Illinois continues to wait on real reform, Alaska implemented such reform in 2006. Illinois and public sector workers would do well to learn from Alaska’s reform.
Read more…
Five reasons why the university pension plan won’t solve Illinois’ crisis
The only way to solve Illinois’ pension crisis is to end the state’s defined benefit plan, and give workers retirement freedom and mobility with 401(k)-style retirement plans.
Growing pension costs for Illinois judges are burdening state taxpayers
In 2012 alone, Illinois taxpayers contributed $47 million more to JRS than judges did.
Defined contributions: the only fair pension reform
We wholeheartedly believe that this approach is fair all around: government workers can grow a solid retirement nest egg, taxpayers face no unfunded liability and services for the state’s poor and disadvantaged will be protected.
The reality is that Quinn cannot “predict” how much the unfunded liability will grow in the future
Taxpayer contributions to SURS increased 333 percent since 1998
In 2012 alone, Illinois taxpayers contributed $730 million more to SURS than university employees did.
Increasing State Employee Retirement System costs fall on the backs of Illinois taxpayers
In 2012 alone, Illinois taxpayers contributed $1.1 billion more to SERS than state employees did
State Universities Retirement System option provides model for Illinois pension reform
The irony of the crisis is that a model for pension reform already exists and operates in Illinois. And no one is talking about it.
Tapped out taxpayers shoulder more and more of the costs of teacher pensions
In 2012 alone, Illinois taxpayers contributed $1.6 billion more to TRS than teachers did.
Illinois’ supersized pension problem
Officially, the underfunding of the five state-run pension systems total $100 billion. But when more realistic assumptions are used, the shortfall exceeds $200 billion.