Lake County Gazette

After projecting its investments would grow by 6.50 percent, the North Chicago Firefighters Pension Fund lost 2.59 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 North Chicago Firefighters Pension Fund's had $8,759,979 in investment assets last year. It paid $31,286 in investment expenses and lost $195,587 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	$8,776,836	$9,278,719	$9,402,050	$9,459,158	$8,759,979
Investment expenses	$30,940	$31,206	$32,278	$35,300	$31,286
Investment income	$369,076	$1,024,595	$699,768	$615,969	-$195,587
Net investment income to assets	3.85%	10.71%	7.10%	6.14%	-2.59%
Actuarial assumption	6.50%	6.50%	6.50%	6.50%	6.50%