North Riverside Police Pension Fund places 65th for lowest funding ratio among Illinois pensions in 2024

According to the Illinois Department of Insurance (IDOI), North Riverside Police Pension Fund was 65th among the state’s most underfunded police and fire pensions in 2024.

This fund, part of Illinois’ Village or Township structure, disclosed $50,002,140 in total pension liabilities and an actuarial funding value of $23,279,138.

The funding ratio stood at 46.6%, indicating the pension held 53.4% less than required to cover projected retirement benefits.

This shortfall resulted in an unfunded liability of about $26,723,002 for the pension system.

The Illinois Department of Insurance compiles data from local police and fire pension systems, which are financially backed by each city’s taxpayers.

As of 2024, there were 363 police and 300 fire pension funds in Illinois. Some localities managed both, while others covered only a single system.

There are municipalities without any unfunded pension debts. In 2024, 64 municipalities reported meeting all required police and fire pension obligations and did not appear in these rankings.

Police and fire pension obligations—also known as “pension benefits”—serve as deferred compensation. While municipal officials pledge retirement pay for public safety workers, insufficient contributions from workers or taxpayers sometimes leave funding gaps. When that happens, pension balances become a future liability, shifting the responsibility to subsequent residents. To keep these plans solvent, annual municipal contributions are needed, mostly funded by property taxes, with the IDOI tracking these payments.

Across the state in 2024, the average police and fire pension funding ratio hit 65.1%, illustrating the widespread underfunding of public safety pension systems.

The worst-funded pension system reported in Illinois was Glencoe Firefighters Pension Fund, which posted a 0.9% funding ratio.

In contrast, the best-performing fund was the Savoy Firefighters Pension Fund, achieving a 797.7% funding ratio with $149,803 in assets for its liabilities.

Illinois’ overall pension debt grew by $1.5 billion in 2024, totaling $143.7 billion, according to the Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability. This represents the third straight annual increase, bringing the debt near its 20-year peak from 2020 of $144.2 billion.

Data from the State Department of Insurance Public Pension Division indicates that suburban and downstate Illinois pension systems held $12.1 billion in unfunded actuarial liabilities in 2024, with a collective funding ratio of 49.18%. That leaves them with less than half of the resources required to support promised benefits.

In 2024, Illinois ranked at the top nationwide for largest percentage of state GDP devoted to unfunded pension liabilities, approaching 20%, the Equable Institute reported. 

The Illinois Policy Institute pointed out the effect on taxpayers, indicating taxpayer contributions rose from $614 million in fiscal year 1996 to $11.2 billion in fiscal year 2025.

Figures in this report were sourced from the Illinois Department of Insurance (IDOI). Complete data is available here.