Chicago’s Pension-Fund Woes Just Became $11.5 Billion Bigger

  • New accounting rules show 162% increase in net liabilities
  • Fund liability jumped because of court loss, accounting shift
Photographer: Getty Images
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Chicago’s pension-fund shortfall just got $11.5 billion bigger.

Thanks to the defeat of the city’s retirement-fund overhaul by the Illinois Supreme Court and new accounting rules, Chicago’s so-called net pension liability to its Municipal Employees’ Annuity and Benefit Fund soared to $18.6 billion by the end of 2015 from $7.1 billion a year earlier, according to its annual report. The fund serves some 70,000 workers and retirees.