Lake County Gazette

After projecting its investments would grow by 6.75 percent, the Grayslake FPD Firefighters Pension Fund lost 3.03 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 Grayslake FPD Firefighters Pension Fund's had $12,141,685 in investment assets last year. It paid $47,180 in investment expenses and lost $320,724 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.