State Stix                                                              

Deeper in debt

When the state auditor general released audits of state pension systems recently, attention focused on abuses in the State Universities Retirement System — country club memberships, car allowances and excessive travel expenses.

But more salient is the fact that the unfunded liabilities of the state's three largest pension systems continued to grow between fiscal year 1993 and 1994. In all, the retirement systems for university employees, state employees and downstate teachers had nearly $17 billion in unfunded liabilities — the difference between assets and liabilities owed present and future annuitants. Unfunded liabilities in the downstate teachers' system alone rose $2.1 billion.

Legislators enacted a seven-year rescue plan for the pension systems in 1990, but they have failed to adequately fund it. (Funding of the teachers' system will fall $384 million short of actuarial requirements this year.) Last year, the legislature passed a new funding scheme. This time the debt is to be phased out over 50 years.

26/May 1995/lllinois Issues