East Central Reporter

With the amount it's obligated to pay pensioners outpacing the funds it has on hand, 42 percent of the Charleston Firefighters Pension Fund is funded, according to the latest data reported to the Illinois Department of Insurance Pension Division.

The DOI biennial report shows the value of the Charleston Firefighters Pension Fund's liabilities was $33,898,987 at the end of 2018, while its value of assets was $14,249,391 – a difference of $19,649,596.

The fund's actuarial funding position has gotten worse over the past five years. In 2018, 42 percent of the fund was funded. Five years ago, 47.9 percent was funded.

Combining the liabilities of all the funds, just 47.5 percent were funded in 2018, according to the report. Unfunded liabilities statewide totaled $187.8 billion in 2018.

	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	Change 2014-2018
Actuarial value of assets	$13,521,560	$13,766,228	$13,921,053	$14,038,861	$14,249,391	5.4%
Actuarial value of liabilities	$28,226,804	$29,194,985	$30,611,277	$32,409,949	$33,898,987	20.1%
Actuarial funding position	-$14,705,244	-$15,428,757	-$16,690,224	-$18,371,088	-$19,649,596	-33.6%
Actuarial funding percent	47.9%	47.2%	45.5%	43.3%	42%	-5.9%