Chicago City Wire

Without members and taxpayers subsidizing its revenue, the Municipal Employees A & B Fund Of Chicago would have lost $1,127,811,795 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 four years without these subsidies.

The fund lost $187,667,311 in investment income and other revenue in 2018. At the same time, it paid out $940,144,484 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 $349,574,257 to the fund’s revenue last year – an amount that has increased from $158,797,631 five years ago. Members contributed an additional $138,399,727 – $8,427,746 more than five years ago.

In all, subsidies amounted to $487,973,984 in 2018.

Year	Total non-subsidy revenue	Total expenses	Outcome without subsidies
2018	-$187,667,311	$940,144,484	-$1,127,811,795
2017	$635,249,679	$913,987,542	-$278,737,863
2016	$301,896,719	$894,931,558	-$593,034,839
2015	$137,530,962	$864,734,280	-$727,203,318
2014	$307,909,668	$838,869,279	-$530,959,611