Communities across Illinois are calling on state lawmakers to protect taxpayers from unfair tax hikes and to invest in local projects and services.

Public Safety Pension Reforms
are Under Attack

Proposals in the Illinois State Legislature to dismantle hard-fought pension reforms could mean higher property taxes on residents. These reforms were fairly negotiated with all parties more than a decade ago to prevent a financial crisis caused by unsustainable costs. Even with these reforms, many communities are struggling to keep up with pension costs. Rolling back these protections would bring us back to that financial crisis and put the pension benefits of our police officers and firefighters at risk.

Why This Matters

Taxpayers Fund Pensions – The retirement benefits of the police officers and firefighters that protect your community are funded by your local tax dollars, not the State. Changes to pension benefits could impact your property taxes.

Our Current Pension System Is More than Fair – Our municipal police and fire pensions were reformed to ensure a more stable and affordable pension system for taxpayers while maintaining generous retirement benefits for first responders.

Undoing Reforms is Reckless to our Taxpayers – Without these reforms, our communities would face devastating increases in pension expenses, putting us back on a path toward a financial crisis. Local leaders will face difficult decisions in order to fund public safety pensions, such as raising property taxes and/or cutting municipal staff or services.

Long-Term Financial Instability – Dismantling these protections would unravel more than a decade of progress. Without financial stability, the security of the pension system, and therefore the pension benefits of first responders, would be at risk.

Taxpayers cannot afford to go backwards. Protect first responder pensions and taxpayers by maintaining the pension system.

Take Action!

Let your legislators know that taxpayers cannot afford a roll back of more than a decade of progress on public safety pensions. Urge Illinois lawmakers to protect our pension stability.

Tell Your Legislators: Hands Off Public Safety Pensions!

Join the fight to keep your community’s pension system fair and affordable.

What is LGDF?

In Illinois, county and municipal governments receive a portion of the income taxes collected by the State on individuals and corporations. This pool of revenue, previously 10% of income taxes, is the Local Government Distributive Fund (LGDF), which is returned to each community on a per capita basis each year. This system was established in 1969 when the state income tax was created instead of local governments collecting their own income taxes.

In 2011, after this system had been in place for more than 50 years, Illinois lawmakers started taking a larger share of the local pie – reducing the agreed-upon 10 percent rate. When state lawmakers increased the state income tax that year, none of that increase was allocated to local communities.

In FY24, the General Assembly increased LGDF from 6.16 percent to 6.47 percent, investing an estimated $130 million in additional revenue to Illinois municipalities and counties. Communities are only beginning to see the benefits of this first step toward restoration, and additional increases in LGDF will compound these returns on investment.

How does this impact my taxes?

Investing in Communities will reduce pressure on property taxes and allow municipal and county governments to pay for state mandates and community needs without increasing the income or property taxes or adding new taxes or fees on residents.

Transportation and Infrastructure

Investments in local infrastructure and a robust, reliable, and aﬀordable public transit system are critical for the prosperity of our region. Legislation to reform public transportation must prioritize consensus-driven governance, local control, equitable service levels across the region, and a sustainable funding model.

Municipal representation in transit governance must be preserved and strengthened to align regional decision-making with the needs of our communities.