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Committee presses for actuarial valuations; pension trustees say drafts are with counsel
Summary
Committee members asked why actuarial valuation reports were not available; pension board representatives said drafts are under counsel review and raised concerns about commingling of pension trust funds and communication delays.
Members of the Finance and Budget Committee pressed staff and pension representatives for the actuarial valuation reports the committee needs to set next year’s pension contributions.
Hitesh told the group he had not received the actuarial valuation drafts and that he expected the committee would see them by the next meeting in September. Representatives of the pension boards said the actuary had provided drafts to pension counsel and that the boards were reviewing those documents before broader release. A pension board representative said the last three years’ reports arrived in late August and that the timing had not been unusual compared with prior years.
Several trustees and board officers spoke during the discussion. One pension board president said he is the treasurer of both pension boards and expects to receive drafts as part of the board review; another speaker, identifying themselves as president of the Evanston Firefighters Pension Fund, said their comments were based on publicly available audits and budget documents and offered to provide a legal and fiduciary perspective. That speaker and another trustee reported recent difficulties obtaining timely administrative answers and said they had to use FOIA requests to obtain some records. One trustee also said the city had admitted it had previously commingled pension trust funds with city operational funds; the speaker characterized that as a separate governance issue.
Committee members asked staff to follow up with the actuary, consider inviting the board presidents and the actuary to the next committee meeting to present the valuation, and to clarify timelines for release. The committee emphasized that the actuarial numbers are a key input to the '26 budget process and could materially affect next year’s recommended contribution if adjustments are large.
No formal action was taken; the committee asked staff to secure the reports and to coordinate a joint presentation by the actuary and pension board presidents when drafts are available.
