More than 129,000 Illinois public pensioners will see expected payouts of $1 million or more during retirement.

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.

According to recent data, Illinois spends nearly double the national average on pensions, measured as a percentage of all state and local government spending.

Nearly 38 percent of Illinois Teachers Retirement System assets are in so-called alternative investments.

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.

Illinois households are now on the hook for $27,000, up 17 percent from 2015.

Illinois government workers are able to retire before the age of 60 while collecting most of their final average salary.

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...