Mayor: Cook County Numbers Wrong, Heights Pension 64 Percent Funded

Mayor David Gonzalez said he was shocked when he saw the municipality debt numbers released by the Cook County Treasurer's Office last week, revealing the pension fund in Chicago Heights is underfunded by more than 1,400 percent.

The mayor's surprise was quickly followed by doubt.

"I knew there was no possible way we could be underfunded by that much," Gonzalez said. "It stuck out like a sore thumb."

Gonzalez said it turned out the city had given the treasurer's office the wrong numbers.

"We're actually about 64 percent funded," Gonzalez said. "We've got probably one of the better police and fire pensions."

The mayor chalked the faulty numbers up to inexperience with a new process.

"This is the first year the treasurer has asked for these numbers," Gonzalez said, adding that Chicago Heights wasn't the only municipality with incorrect numbers. "There were about 20 other towns that were incorrect as well."

Gonzalez used Maywood as an example of grossly inaccurate reporting. The village's High School District 209 pension fund is a whoping 21,000 percent underfunded, according to the information released by the treasurer's office last week.

Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas told the Southtown Star her office asked municipalities to double check their figures before they went up on her office's Website, adding that she wasn't going to do it for them.