Braidwood Police Pension Fund places 313th in funding shortfall among Illinois pension plans for 2024

According to the Illinois Department of Insurance (IDOI), the Braidwood Police Pension Fund was ranked 313th for lowest funding among Illinois’ police and fire pension systems in 2024.

Operating within Illinois’ Village or Township pension framework, the fund reported $8,895,809 in total pension liabilities and had an actuarial asset value of $5,924,261.

This results in a funding level of 66.6%, which means the fund was lacking 33.4% of the actuarial assets required to meet its pension commitments.

The gap between resources and obligations left the pension plan with an unfunded liability estimated at $2,971,548.

The Illinois Department of Insurance gathers and reports data on local police and fire pension systems, which are financially supported by residents of their respective municipalities.

As of 2024, Illinois had 363 police pension funds and 300 fire pension funds. Some municipalities oversee both types, while others administer just one.

There are municipalities without unfunded pension liabilities. In 2024, 64 municipalities reported no police or fire pension debt and were not included in these rankings.

Pension benefits for police and firefighters, often described as “pension benefits,” operate as deferred compensation. Although municipal officials pledge long-term retirement benefits to public safety employees, they sometimes fall short in securing full contributions from either workers or taxpayers. This mismatch has created pension debt for local governments, shifting costs to future residents. Municipalities maintain the plans through required annual payments, which rely largely on property tax revenue as recorded by IDOI data.

Statewide, Illinois police and fire pension systems showed a funding ratio average of 65.1% in 2024, demonstrating that these funding issues are widespread among local public safety pensions.

The Glencoe Firefighters Pension Fund recorded the state’s lowest funding ratio at only 0.9%.

By contrast, the Savoy Firefighters Pension Fund had the highest funding ratio at 797.7%, with $149,803 in actuarial assets and liabilities far surpassed by its assets.

Illinois’ total pension debt increased by $1.5 billion for 2024, climbing to $143.7 billion, says the Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability. This was the third straight year of increases, leaving the debt just below its 20-year peak of $144.2 billion in 2020.

Analysis from the State Department of Insurance Public Pension Division shows that suburban and downstate pension funds in Illinois carried $12.1 billion in unfunded actuarial liabilities in 2024, with a collective funding ratio of 49.18%. This means these plans held less than half what is needed for promised benefits.

A 2024 review by the Equable Institute finds that Illinois dedicated the largest share of its GDP to unfunded pension liabilities among states, reaching almost 20%.

The Illinois Policy Institute, a nonpartisan policy research group, said this is putting pressure on taxpayers. According to the organization, taxpayer contributions to state pension plans increased from $614 million in fiscal year 1996 to $11.2 billion in fiscal year 2025.

Information in this article was obtained from the Illinois Department of Insurance (IDOI). The source data is available here.