Chicago City Wire

It would cost every Illinois resident $10,000 to get the state’s pension fund back into the black, according to a Crain’s Chicago Business.

Recently, Pew Charitable Trusts researchers found “net amortization” -- a metric that measures plan assumptions, actions and current market trends to gauge if a state is making progress or falling further behind on its pension funding -- remained on the decline in Illinois, Colorado, Kentucky, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, as of the end of 2015.

Overall in the United States, the divide between state pension obligation and what is available -- known as net pension liability -- ballooned to $1.1 trillion in 2015, an increase of $157 billion, or 17 percent, from 2014.

On average, the funded ratio for pension plans nationwide dipped from 75 percent to 72 percent.

In Illinois specifically, unfunded liability jumped by nearly $8 billion to $119 million from 2014 to 2015. The funded ratio for the state fell 1 percent to 40 percent, behind only New Jersey and Kentucky as lowest in the nation. 

 “The Illinois problem is a case of investments not meeting funding targets,” David Draine, senior researcher with Pew, told the Chicago City Wire. “What that means is the state is not putting aside enough.”

The state also finds itself hampered by a budget crisis lasting nearly two years now.

 “What you’re seeing in Illinois is a product of things that have happened over time, and now you have to have great discipline to pay down the debt,” Draine said. “In 2000, the state of West Virginia was worse among data, but the state set up a payment plan they were willing to stick with, and now the state is above average. It’s not easy and it takes a while to come together. You need fiscal discipline and a plan to stay out of trouble in the future.”

Though final numbers for 2016 are not yet available, Pew researchers warned that the overall situation looks bleak.

More pension debt -- in the neighborhood of $200 billion -- is expected to increase net liability across the country to approximately $1.3 trillion.