East Joliet FPD Firefighters Pension Fund places 650th lowest for funding among Illinois pension systems in 2024

Classified as the 650th most underfunded police and fire pension system statewide in 2024, the East Joliet FPD Firefighters Pension Fund’s status was confirmed by the Illinois Department of Insurance (IDOI).

The fund, which is part of Illinois’ Fire Protection District pension framework, disclosed a total pension liability of $3,755,147 against an actuarial funding value of $6,630,468.

This equates to a funding ratio of 176.6%, which shows the fund was short by -76.6% of the actuarial assets necessary to completely fulfill promised retirement benefits.

The asset-to-obligation gap resulted in an unfunded liability amounting to roughly -$2,875,321 for the pension fund.

The Illinois Department of Insurance gathers and makes available data on municipal police and fire pensions—systems financially supported by residents of their respective communities.

As of 2024, there were 300 fire and 363 police pension systems in Illinois, with some localities managing both types and others only one.

Some municipalities do not report any unfunded pension liabilities. In 2024, 64 cities had no outstanding police or fire pension debt and were therefore omitted from the rankings.

Pension obligations for police and firefighters, also known as “pension benefits,” serve as deferred pay. While municipal officials promise retirement benefits to public safety workers, they occasionally lack sufficient contributions from either employees or taxpayers, causing pension deficits for their communities and shifting the financial responsibility to future residents. To sustain these systems, municipalities contribute funds each year, typically drawn from property taxes, which are reported in IDOI data.

Statewide, Illinois police and fire pension systems had an average funding ratio of 65.1% in 2024, underlining substantial funding gaps in public safety pensions.

The pension system with the lowest funding ratio statewide was Glencoe Firefighters Pension Fund at 0.9%.

In contrast, Savoy Firefighters Pension Fund achieved the highest funding ratio in Illinois, at 797.7%, with assets totaling $149,803 well beyond its obligations.

Illinois’ cumulative pension debt rose by $1.5 billion in 2024 to reach $143.7 billion, based on data from the Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability. This marks the third straight annual increase and places the shortfall just below the 20-year peak of $144.2 billion from 2020.

A State Department of Insurance Public Pension Division report indicated suburban and downstate pension systems in Illinois held $12.1 billion in unfunded actuarial liabilities in 2024, with a combined funding ratio of 49.18%, meaning more than half the required assets to pay obligations were missing.

For 2024, Illinois had the largest proportion of state GDP devoted to unfunded pension liabilities, nearing 20%, as reported by the Equable Institute. 

The Illinois Policy Institute, a nonpartisan research group, claims that this trend is increasing the tax burden on residents. According to the group, taxpayer contributions to state pension systems grew from $614 million in fiscal 1996 to $11.2 billion in fiscal 2025.

Details in this article were provided by the Illinois Department of Insurance (IDOI). The original data can be accessed here.