A new audit of Illinois pensions shows their unfunded liability has crossed into new territory. It’s no longer almost or about – it’s more than $100 billion.
The auditor general’s report released Wednesday indicates the five systems’ liability grew 6.3 percent – $5.9 billion – in the fiscal year which ended June 30, 2013. The new total is $100.5 billion.
It’s not a surprise to one of the legislature’s main pension negotiators, State Rep. Elaine Nekritz (D-Northbrook), who says the calculations have been “smoothed” for the last five years.
“You take an average of the value of those assets over five years rather than at a point in time,” Nekritz says. “The reason you do that is when the stock market dropped – what was it, 25, 30 percent? – that was a very significant hit (which) I didn’t think really reflected the long-term value the assets that were held in the pension funds.”