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Saturday, October 4, 2025

Analysis: East Moline Firefighters Pension Fund would go bankrupt in seven years without taxpayer subsidy

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Without members and taxpayers subsidizing its revenue, the East Moline Firefighters Pension Fund would have lost $3,260,573 in 2018, according to a Rock Island Today analysis of the latest data reported to the Illinois Department of Insurance Pension Division.

The fund has $22,323,334 in total assets. If the fund’s annual losses stay the same, it would run out of money in seven years without these subsidies.

The fund lost $1,443,358 in investment income and other revenue in 2018. At the same time, it paid out $1,817,215 in expenses, according to the 2019 biennial report detailing the health of each of the state’s pension funds and retirement systems. The difference between the two shows the fund’s annual loss without subsidies.

Taxpayers added $906,371 to the fund’s revenue last year – an amount that has increased from $679,363 five years ago. Members contributed an additional $250,402 – $8,088 more than five years ago.

In all, subsidies amounted to $1,156,773 in 2018.

East Moline Firefighters Pension Fund non-subsidy revenue over five years
YearTotal non-subsidy revenueTotal expensesOutcome without subsidies
2018-$1,443,358$1,817,215-$3,260,573
2017$2,553,303$1,726,308$826,995
2016$1,785,272$1,685,581$99,691
2015-$655,703$1,579,316-$2,235,019
2014$705,899$1,531,698-$825,799

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