Lake County Gazette

After projecting its investments would grow by 6.75 percent, the Vernon Hills Police Pension Fund lost 1.11 percent on its investments in 2016, according to data reported to the Illinois Department of Insurance Pension Division.

The DOI biennial report detailing the health of each of the pension funds shows the Vernon Hills Police Pension Fund's had $39,636,804 in investment assets last year. It paid $143,805 in investment expenses and lost $295,338 in investment income.

Pension funds and retirement systems set actuarial assumptions to project returns on investments to cover obligations to pensioners. When they fall short, the difference has to be made up from other sources – primarily from taxpayers and member contributions.

	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016
Investment assets	$30,361,990	$33,662,691	$36,996,860	$39,869,859	$39,636,804
Investment expenses	$18,716	$41,779	$2,829	$2,301	$143,805
Investment income	$1,392,867	$2,951,298	$3,238,943	$2,599,867	-$295,338
Net investment income to assets	4.53%	8.64%	8.75%	6.52%	-1.11%
Actuarial assumption	6.75%	6.75%	6.75%	6.75%	6.75%