Chicago City Wire

Without members and taxpayers subsidizing its revenue, the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund would have lost $3,767,711,758 in 2018, according to a Chicago City Wire analysis of the latest data reported to the Illinois Department of Insurance Pension Division.

The fund has $2,147,483,647 in total assets. If the fund’s annual losses stay the same, it would run out of money in 10 years without these subsidies.

The fund lost $1,620,228,111 in investment income and other revenue in 2018. At the same time, it paid out $2,147,483,647 in expenses, according to the 2019 biennial report detailing the health of each of the state’s pension funds and retirement systems. The difference between the two shows the fund’s annual loss without subsidies.

Taxpayers added $947,568,823 to the fund’s revenue last year – an amount that has increased from $923,382,825 five years ago. Members contributed an additional $413,901,691 – $62,812,246 more than five years ago.

In all, subsidies amounted to $1,361,470,514 in 2018.

Year	Total non-subsidy revenue	Total expenses	Outcome without subsidies
2018	-$1,620,228,111	$2,402,178,494	-$4,022,406,605
2017	$5,835,099,034	$2,234,061,245	$3,601,037,789
2016	$2,778,162,547	$2,090,665,495	$687,497,052
2015	$320,207,300	$1,942,656,889	-$1,622,449,589
2014	$2,112,088,521	$1,803,092,485	$308,996,036