The Bond Buyer
Funding gap spurs unlikely proposal for $100 billion of new Illinois pension bonds
CHICAGO – Municipal market participants threw cold water on a proposal pitched by an Illinois pension advocacy group to borrow more than $100 billion to pay down the state’s massive unfunded pension tab.
The proposal pitched by the State Universities Annuitants Association calls for Illinois to issue $107 billion of 27-year fixed-rate bonds this year to bring the five-fund state system up to a 90% funded ratio.
The state has $128.9 billion of unfunded liabilities and the retirement system is just 39.9% funded based on fiscal 2017 actuarial data. Based on the market value, the t