Plainfield Police Pension Fund ranks 500th statewide for underfunding in 2024

The Illinois Department of Insurance (IDOI) ranked the Plainfield Police Pension Fund as the 500th most underfunded police and fire pension system in Illinois for 2024, according to data from the IDOI.

This fund operates within the Village or Township pension framework in Illinois and reported total pension liabilities amounting to $65,114,165, with an actuarial funding value of $53,716,924.

This equated to a funding ratio of 82.5%, which shows the fund was short by 17.5% of the assets necessary to cover all promised retirement payouts.

As a result, the pension fund carried an estimated $11,397,241 in unfunded liabilities.

The Illinois Department of Insurance compiles and releases information on municipal police and fire pension funds, which rely on financial support from their respective communities.

As of 2024, Illinois maintained 300 fire and 363 police pension funds, with some cities supporting both, while others only manage one.

Some municipalities are free of unfunded pension liability. In 2024, 64 municipalities had no outstanding police or fire pension liabilities and were not included in the ranking.

Police and fire pension obligations, also called “pension benefits,” serve as deferred compensation. Municipal governments pledge retirement benefits to public safety workers, but sometimes lack adequate financial contributions from employees or taxpayers, resulting in a funding shortfall. This leads to growing pension debt for communities, shifting the fiscal responsibility to future residents. Municipalities support these pensions largely through yearly contributions funded mainly by property taxes, as reported in data from the IDOI.

Statewide, the average funding ratio for police and fire pension funds in Illinois was 65.1% in 2024, demonstrating substantial funding challenges among local public safety pension systems.

The Glencoe Firefighters Pension Fund had the lowest funding ratio in Illinois, at only 0.9%.

On the other end, Savoy Firefighters Pension Fund was the most overfunded system, with a funding ratio of 797.7% and an actuarial funding value of $149,803, which greatly exceeded its liabilities.

Illinois’ total unfunded pension debt increased by $1.5 billion in 2024, bringing the total to $143.7 billion, based on a report by the Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability. This was the third year in a row the debt rose, putting the total just under the 20-year high of $144.2 billion reached in 2020.

The State Department of Insurance Public Pension Division reported that in 2024, Illinois’ suburban and downstate pension systems had $12.1 billion in unfunded actuarial liabilities, with a combined funding ratio of 49.18%. This indicates they held less than half the assets needed for their promised pensions.

According to a study from the Equable Institute, Illinois dedicated nearly 20% of its GDP to unfunded pension liabilities in 2024, the highest share among U.S. states.

The Illinois Policy Institute, a nonpartisan organization, asserts that this trend is creating a greater taxpayer burden. The group notes that taxpayer contributions to the state retirement systems grew 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 can be found here.