Rockford Sun

Without members and taxpayers subsidizing its revenue, the Rockford Firefighters Pension Fund would have lost $25,546,381 in 2018, according to a Rockford Sun analysis of the latest data reported to the Illinois Department of Insurance Pension Division.

The fund has $158,027,868 in total assets. If the fund’s annual losses stay the same, it would run out of money in seven years without these subsidies.

The fund lost $6,614,323 in investment income and other revenue in 2018. At the same time, it paid out $18,932,058 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 $10,257,695 to the fund’s revenue last year – an amount that has increased from $7,218,958 five years ago. Members contributed an additional $2,176,890 – $223,366 more than five years ago.

In all, subsidies amounted to $12,434,585 in 2018.

Year	Total non-subsidy revenue	Total expenses	Outcome without subsidies
2018	-$6,614,323	$18,932,058	-$25,546,381
2017	$18,333,005	$17,647,231	$685,774
2016	$12,129,234	$16,898,418	-$4,769,184
2015	$123,011	$16,326,917	-$16,203,906
2014	$8,791,692	$15,885,626	-$7,093,934