Mount Prospect Police Pension Fund places 235th for underfunding among Illinois pension systems in FY 2024, with funding at 61.3%

The Mount Prospect Police Pension Fund was ranked 235th among Illinois’ most underfunded police and fire pension systems in 2024, according to the Illinois Department of Insurance (IDOI).

Operating under the state’s Village or Township pension framework, the fund reported $162,366,507 in total pension liabilities and had an actuarial funding value of $99,473,443.

This equates to a funding ratio of 61.3%, showing the fund was short 38.7% of the actuarial assets required to fully meet its retirement benefit obligations.

The gap between assets and liabilities resulted in an unfunded liability estimated at $62,893,064 for the pension system.

The Illinois Department of Insurance gathers and releases data on local police and fire pensions, which are financially supported by municipal residents.

As of 2024, Illinois maintained 300 fire and 363 police pension funds. Some municipalities oversee both types, while others support only one.

There are municipalities without unfunded pension debt. In 2024, 64 municipalities had no outstanding police or fire pension obligations and were not included in the rankings.

Police and fire pension obligations—also called “pension benefits”—act as deferred compensation. While municipal officials commit to public safety retirement benefits, sometimes adequate funding from employees or taxpayers is not secured. This gap leads to pension debt for municipalities, effectively transferring financial responsibility to future residents. Municipalities make annual contributions to sustain these pension systems, mainly sourced from property taxes, as documented in IDOI data.

Across the state, Illinois police and fire pension funds averaged a funding ratio of 65.1% in 2024, indicating widespread shortfalls in local public safety retirement funding.

The lowest funding ratio among the state’s pension systems was the Glencoe Firefighters Pension Fund at only 0.9%.

By contrast, the Savoy Firefighters Pension Fund was the best funded in Illinois, reporting a 797.7% funding ratio and an actuarial value of $149,803, far surpassing its liabilities.

Statewide pension debt in Illinois grew by $1.5 billion in 2024, reaching $143.7 billion, as reported by the Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability. This increase marks the third straight year of growth and leaves the debt just below the 20-year high of $144.2 billion recorded in 2020.

A report from the State Department of Insurance Public Pension Division highlights that suburban and downstate funds had $12.1 billion in unfunded actuarial liabilities in 2024, with a combined funding ratio of 49.18%, meaning they were below the halfway mark in covering their pension commitments.

As of 2024, Illinois had the highest share of state GDP earmarked for unfunded pension liabilities, nearing 20%, according to research by the Equable Institute.

The Illinois Policy Institute, a nonpartisan research organization, says this has contributed to a growing taxpayer burden. According to the group, taxpayer contributions to the state’s pension systems increased from $614 million in fiscal year 1996 to $11.2 billion in fiscal year 2025.

Information in this article comes from the Illinois Department of Insurance (IDOI). Source data is available here.