Excerpts from the dupagepolicyjournal.com:
Without members and taxpayers subsidizing its revenue, Carol Stream FPD Firefighters Pension Fund lost $2,559,792 in 2016, according to a DuPage Policy Journal analysis of the latest data reported to the Illinois Department of Insurance Pension Division. The fund has $34,668,933 in total assets. If the funds annual losses were the same, it would run out of money in 14 years without these subsidies.
The fund lost $835,568 in investment income and other revenue in 2016. At the same time, it paid out $1,724,224 in expenses, according to the 2017 biennial report detailing the health of each of the states pension funds and retirement systems. The difference between the two shows the funds annual loss without subsidies.
Taxpayers added $1,172,985 to the funds revenue last year – an amount that has increased from $1,167,085 five years ago. Members contributed an additional $454,480 – $37,967 more than five years ago.
In all, subsidies amounted to $1,627,465 in 2016.
Carol Stream FPD Firefighters Pension Fund non-subsidy revenue over five yearsYear Total non-subsidy revenue Total expenses Outcome without subsidies2016 -$835,568 $1,724,224 -$2,559,7922015 $1,383,808 $1,553,330 -$169,5222014 $3,271,390 $1,334,823 $1,936,5672013 $4,030,860 $1,210,08 $2,820,7782012 -$362,552 $983,264 -$1,345,816
#1 by Chuck on May 18, 2018 - 6:41 PM
So the taxpayers added the grand sum of $5,800 more from one year to the next? Gee, sounds like a freaking bargain. Maybe the Pension Board should be looking at their investment advisors – sounds like somebody’s taking the pension money to the riverboats.
#2 by Joe on May 17, 2018 - 6:01 PM
Mike, you’re absolutely right. I’m simply trying to point out how ridiculous their position on this is.
Dan, the numbers are correct, the problem is that they’re being purposely misleading.
It would be like your employer telling you that your bank account will be empty in 14 years if they stopped providing their “employer subsidy.” The “employer subsidy” being your paycheck. Your employer is obligated to pay you for the work you’ve done just as the district/municipality (taxpayers) are obligated to pay into the pension fund.
There is no such thing as a “taxpayer subsidy” when it comes to pension funds. The firefighters contributing to the fund aren’t subsidizing it, they are providing legally required contributions. The taxpayers aren’t subsidizing the pension fund, they are providing legally required contributions. That’s the way the system is designed to work. The DuPage Policy Journal is saying, in so many words, that if the Carol Stream Fire District broke the system, the system would be broken. They’re misleading their readers so that the voters of DuPage County will push harder to end the benefit that firefighters across Illinois have worked, fought, and died to achieve.
#3 by Mike on May 17, 2018 - 4:29 PM
Joe the dupage policy journal isn’t a real newspaper so the news they’re pointing out isn’t legitimate news. Dan, you can contact carol stream FPD directly and find that out. It’s no secret they will tell you.
#4 by Jonathan on May 17, 2018 - 2:21 PM
The article says “If the funds annual losses were the same, it would run out of money in 14 years without these subsidies.” This statement is based on what the article calls 2016 results. Looks like “cherry picking to me. The article ignores the positive returns of 2013 and 2014. The story also ignores the net positive “outcome without subsidies” for the 5 year periods listed. Based on the 5 year window, the headline should read “Pension Fund will NEVER run out of funds even without subsidies”. But that statement contradicts the objective of making pension funds look bad.
#5 by rich on May 17, 2018 - 1:58 PM
The correct numbers are the members have always paid into the fund, every check, never missed a single payment. However the municipalities in some cases only put enough to cover retirees payments, not their full contribution. In doing this obviously the fund loses money. I personally pay 9 -1/8 every check, that’s my share for my retirement and we don’t get Social Security. I don’t think the public at large understands that we as the employee are putting a large amount of money into the funds for ourselves. The pension system is not the problem, the employees are not the problem, the politicians and municipal government is the problem they use there contribution for other projects because they only need to pay the people that are already retired not those still working. They use the money like it’s a free ATM but it’s not, it’s our retirement.
#6 by Dan on May 17, 2018 - 1:04 PM
So, what are the correct numbers? If you say the numb er s are wrong, then you must have the correct numbers.
#7 by Joe on May 17, 2018 - 1:03 PM
What this article is basically saying is that if the pension weren’t a pension, it wouldn’t be a pension.
Part of the deal is the taxpayer “subsidy.” The firefighters contribute, the municipality (taxpayers) contribute, and the fund remains solvent. No firefighter or other pension eligible employee has ever missed a payment into the fund—they cannot due to the payments being taken directly from their paychecks. Municipalities have missed untold hundreds or thousands of payments into the system.
This information is misleading and dangerous. The pension funds do not exist without contributions from municipalities AND from individuals. They’re trying to make it seem as though the pension fund is being propped up by taxpayers when they really should be pointing out that this is a necessary, legal, and important part of the system. Of course the fund would go broke if contributions stopped, that’s literally how it’s supposed to work.
Thanks for pointing out the obvious, DuPage Policy Journal. Now it’s time to pressure DuPage County municipalities and districts to actually fund their pensions properly.
#8 by Jonathan on May 16, 2018 - 10:52 PM
As a professional working with police and firefighter pension funds for 28 years, I agree. The recent reporting by this group is inaccurate and intentionally misleading. I encourage anyone with questions, comments and concerns to attend a local pension board meeting. We participate on more than 500 quarterly meetings a year…and in the last 28 years, not one meeting has been attended by a single member of the press.
#9 by Mike on May 16, 2018 - 8:04 PM
Please don’t put this stuff up here. The dupage county journal is not a reputable news outlet. This is an offshoot of Illinois policy network and wirepoints which are both funded by governor Bruce Rauner. All this misinformation is is a scare tactic to try and mislead the citizens about the fire pensions. If you have questions about the pensions just call the departments and ask to speak to that departments pension board president and they will gladly answer your questions.