Chicago Tribune: Illinois pension costs next year deal blow to already-shaky finances
SPRINGFIELD — Illinois’ public employee pension costs will increase by more than twice as much as expected next year, a blow to state finances that continue to be shaky despite a major income tax increase.
Retirement system experts initially estimated the state would have to come up with about $422 million more for pensions. But after analysts sat down to take another look, as they typically do this time of year, the tab ballooned to nearly $1 billion more.
That creates a math problem at the Capitol. State government expects only about $1 billion more rolling in during the next budget year, so pensions threaten to engulf almost all of the new money, though other funds can be tapped to help make pension payments.
Money woes already have led to cuts in education and social services this year, and the state continues to have a stack of unpaid bills that total billions of dollars.
On Thursday, Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn vowed to meet the state’s pension payments, though he didn’t specify how. The state’s pension system has long been mismanaged, and Illinois has one of the nation’s worst pension debts.
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