Status of Local Pension Funding - 2000
An Evaluation of Nine Local Pension Funds within Cook County
& the Five Collar County Funds in the Illinois
Municipal Retirement Fund
Prepared by
The Civic Federation
September 2001
This study made possible through the generosity of the Arthur Rubloff Residuary Trust.
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FOREWORD
For the past 107 years, The Civic Federation has monitored the revenues and expenditures of local
governments within Cook County. For much of its history, The Civic Federation has commented on
the annual budgets of the local governments on the City of Chicago tax bill. These annual budgets
detail the annual expenditures of eight local governments whose operations, debt service, and
pension funds are funded by local property tax dollars. This report on the status of nine local
government public pension funds within Cook County and the collar county funds in the Illinois
Municipal Retirement Fund is one component of that monitoring role.
In terms of this year’s report, significantly weaker financial markets had a detrimental impact on the
rate of return for the funds’ invested assets. All of the nine local funds achieved lower rates of return
on investments. Only one fund, the Teachers’ Fund was above its assumed rate of return.
Policymakers should take this year’s data and resulting trends very seriously. The substantial
growth realized by these funds during the later half of the 1990s might not be replicated in the near
future. Given the potential for loss in the value of assets, The Civic Federation iterates its
longstanding position that policymakers need to be concerned with the present and future liabilities
of these funds. Failure to limit the growth of those liabilities, compiled with the loss of assets
experienced in 2000, will result in a large due bill for taxpayers in the future.
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The Civic Federation is grateful to Myer Blank, Director of Policy Analysis and principal author of
this report