Governor’s task force recommends merging local pension funds in Illinois

A task force that Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker formed in February is recommending that the state consolidate 649 suburban and downstate police and firefighter pension funds into only two, saying that would generate billions of dollars in additional earnings over the next 20 years while cutting the plans’ administrative costs.

But it stopped short of recommending consolidation of other state retirement funds, or the Cook County and Chicago pension funds, saying those are issues that should be reviewed at a later time…Please click here to read Peter Hancock’s story in the Northwest Herald.

Related stories are in Crain’s: Pritzker pension team looks for savings but finds costly threats instead; the Tribune: Gov. J.B. Pritzker proposes consolidation of suburban and downstate police and firefighter pension funds; and the Sun-Times: State task force recommends consolidating hundreds of small pension funds.