Buffalo Grove Police Pension Fund places 439th in Illinois for underfunding in 2024, with 75.5% of benefits covered

In 2024, the Buffalo Grove Police Pension Fund was positioned as the 439th most underfunded police and fire pension system in Illinois, based on data from the Illinois Department of Insurance (IDOI).

Structured under Illinois’ Village or Township pension plan system, the fund reported pension liabilities totaling $134,182,678 and held $101,293,750 in actuarial funding value.

This resulted in a funding ratio of 75.5%, indicating the fund was short 24.5% in actuarial assets necessary to fully meet promised retirement payouts.

The fund’s assets fell short of obligations by about $32,888,928, representing its unfunded liability.

The Illinois Department of Insurance tracks and disseminates data about municipal police and fire pensions, which are sustained by local taxpayers in each community.

As of 2024, there were 363 police and 300 fire pension systems operating in Illinois. Some municipalities oversee both fund types, while others run just one.

Certain municipalities have no unfunded pension debt. In 2024, 64 reported no outstanding police or fire pension liabilities and were not included in the rankings.

Police and fire pension liabilities—often called “pension benefits”—act as deferred compensation. While municipal officials commit to providing retirement benefits for public safety staff, at times they lack the required contributions from workers or residents, resulting in funding gaps and additional pension debt that future residents eventually bear. Local governments make yearly contributions to support these pensions, mainly from property taxes, as documented by IDOI data.

Statewide, the average funding ratio for police and fire pension systems was 65.1% in 2024, reflecting a pervasive shortfall among local public safety pension funds.

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

The Savoy Firefighters Pension Fund reported the state’s highest funding ratio, at 797.7%, with actuarial assets of $149,803 well above its pension obligations.

Statewide pension debt in Illinois rose by $1.5 billion in 2024, totaling $143.7 billion, according to the Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability. This increase marks the third year in a row and approaches the 20-year peak of $144.2 billion documented in 2020.

The State Department of Insurance Public Pension Division reported that suburban and downstate Illinois pension funds held $12.1 billion in unfunded actuarial liabilities in 2024, together possessing a funding ratio of 49.18%. As a result, they fell short of covering over half of their promised benefits with available assets.

In 2024, Illinois had the greatest share of its GDP attributed to unfunded pension liabilities, nearly reaching 20%, according to an Equable Institute study.

The Illinois Policy Institute, a nonpartisan research group, maintains that this continues to raise the tax burden for state residents. The organization’s data show taxpayer funding for pension systems grew from $614 million in fiscal year 1996 to $11.2 billion in fiscal year 2025.

Details presented in this article were sourced from the Illinois Department of Insurance (IDOI). The original data is available here.