Kane County Reporter

Some good news may be on the horizon for Illinois' pension plan, Sen. Don DeWitte (R-St. Charles) said at a recent legislative hearing.

DeWitte asked Tim Blair, director of the State Employees Retirement System, to discuss the increasing number of employees who are classified as "Tier 2" in the pension system. That plan's benefits, effective for state employees who started work on or after Jan. 1, 2011 are "much more modest" than the previous Tier 1 plan, the state said.

"There’s been chatter within the  pension system that the Tier 2 benefactors are quickly starting to  rise to a higher level of membership than Tier 1’s, which frankly could have a positive effect on benefit payments being made on a regular  basis," DeWitte said. "Could you talk about that spread and how that plays out in your system?"

The number of state employees in each tier are about evenly split, Blair replied.

"More than half of judges are now Tier 2," he said. "We had a lot of judges who were at maximum benefit, we’ve seen a lot of retirements during the pandemic. We've seen a lot of judges who just simply are maxxed out already, but had continued to work but, when things took a turn in March of 2020, they decided to retire. And the legislature is at about 50% too. As you know we’ve had a lot of turnover. In going forward, you are correct. The cost of  the Tier 2 benefits is significantly lower than the Tier 1  benefits."

Gov. J.B. Pritzker proposed state budget of $112.5 billion in the upcoming fiscal year, Patch reported.  

Of that, $45.5 billion would be from the state’s general revenue fund and the rest is federal funds, the story said.

Public employee pensions are a big part of the budget, with Pritzker proposing to make the required contribution of $9.6 billion plus an additional $500 million, Patch said.

Illinois still has an unfunded pension liability of about $140 billion, the story said.