Budget Committee: Use $10 million from NU stadium fees for police and firefighter pensions

Nearly $10 million in one-time permit revenue from Northwestern University’s new stadium project should go into the general fund, members of the city’s Finance and Budget Committee recommended Tuesday.

The money could then be used for expected contribution increases to the city’s police and fire department pension funds.

Last year, the committee recommended the city achieve 100% pension funding by 2040 after years of persistent underfunding.

In fiscal year 2023, the city’s total contributions to police and fire pensions totaled about $25.5 million, more than double that of several neighboring municipalities, according to benchmarking data from city financial analyst Michael Van Dorpe.

Des Plaines ranked second on the list with $16.3 million, and Oak Park contributed just over $14 million to both funds in 2023.

Earlier in Tuesday’s meeting, Jason Franken, the city’s actuarial consultant for police and fire pensions, told committee members that contributions to the police pension fund would need to be $2.5 million higher this year if the 100 percent funding path is used. For fire pensions, the figure is around $1.5 million, he estimated.

He said several factors were responsible for the increase, with the “biggest blow” being the pay raise the city gave employees in 2023.

20% increase

“Dig out of the hole for the 20% salary increase [on the police side] is difficult, so the contribution requirements are being increased,” he said, attending the meeting via a computer link.