CU-Covid19 – Page 3 – CU-CitizenAccess.org

In order to understand why Champaign is doing so well with their pensions compared to
other Illinois cities and the state itself, we’re going to go through a little crash course about
pensions.
A pension is the benefits paid to employees after they retire, usually a predetermined
amount of money given out each month. The pension is paid out from a pension fund, which is
the pool of money that is used to pay out participating employees’ pensions. The amount of
money within the pension fund is sometimes referred to as the plan fiduciary net position.
Pension funds gain money through employee contributions (the money employees put
into the pension fund), employer contributions (the money employers put into the pension fund),
and investment returns (the money gained from the investing of pensions funds). They generally
lose money through finally paying out an employee’s pension, investment losses, and
administrative upkeep.

Two of the most important concepts when it comes to pensions are total liability and
unfunded liability. Total liability includes the previous costs associated with pensions, but also a
calculation of future costs the pension fund will have to pay for eventually, aka what they will
have to pay when all their employees retire. Employees’ average lifespans, disability rates,
spousal lifespans, etc. are used to calculate what is the most likely amount of money the pension
fund will need o have in order to pay all their employees pensions throughout their lifespan.
As employees pension benefits increase and new employees are hired, the total liability
may become larger than the amount of money the pension fund currently has. This difference
between total liability and available money in the pension fund is called unfunded liability.
Unfunded liability is not due to be paid at the time it is taken on, but there is also no
money to pay for it when it is taken on. Therefore, it is a future payment that is promised to be
paid for later or in parts over time, similar to a loan.
For example, a city establishes a fire department in 1990 with 10 firefighters that when
they retire will receive $10,000 annually. Originally, it was assumed they would collect pension
for 20 years, so the pension fund aimed to have $2,000,000 for the firefighters’ retirement. By
2000, they have the $2,000,000 in plan fiduciary net position, but at this time the state decides
that retired firefighters will receive $15,000 per year instead, and the average lifespan
assumption has increased by 5 years. The pension fund’s total liability has grown from
$2,000,000 to $3,750,000, nearly doubling their original total liability. On top of that,
investments have not returned as much as expected and the city only puts in enough money to
cover administrative costs, so the plan fiduciary net position remained unchanged. While its
$2,000,000 was originally enough to fully fund all the firefighters’ pensions, now it is only
enough to fund 53% of their pensions. There are always a lot more moving funds and

calculations involved in real life examples, but this simple example sums up what has been
happening with many Illinois city pensions.

Read more about the article ‘Unique historical fear’ of Carle Health billing practices may lead some to skip COVID-19 vaccine, health officials worry

Gavin Good

Carle Foundation Hospital North Tower.

‘Unique historical fear’ of Carle Health billing practices may lead some to skip COVID-19 vaccine, health officials worry

Post author:Kyra Senese, Documenting COVID-19 project, Brown Institute for Media Innovation
Post published:May 12, 2021
Post category:CU-Covid19 Health Care Public Health

The hospital's decades-long reputation for aggressively billing patients has resurfaced anew during the pandemic.

Read more about the article Illinois flu activity plunges amid pandemic

Illinois Department of Public Health

Source: Illinois Department of Public Health

Illinois flu activity plunges amid pandemic

Post author:Luis Velazquez / For CU-CitizenAccess
Post published:May 10, 2021
Post category:CU-Covid19 Public Health

Influenza-like illness (ILI) activity has decreased compared to previous years in Illinois. The highest ILI rate was in mid-February of 2020 at 7.4%. That is a 93.2% decrease to 0.5% of ILI activity in February of 2021 compared to 2020.

Source: Small Business Association

Illinois Small Business Association releases Restaurant Revitalization Fund information

Post author:Claire O'Brien / For CU-CitizenAccess
Post published:May 3, 2021
Post category:Business CU-Covid19

The U.S. Small Business Administration has announced details about the Restaurant Revitalization Fund, a program established under the American Rescue Plan Act Congress passed…

Trash lines the bus stop next to Walmart on North Prospect Ave. in Champaign on April 5, 2021. Photo by Dylan Tiger.

Champaign residents seek litter solutions after delayed city cleanup efforts, untracked complaints

Post author:Daria Makhneva / For CU-CitizenAccess and Dylan Tiger
Post published:April 9, 2021
Post category:CU-Covid19 Environment Neighborhoods

Champaign residents erupted on social media in early March about the excess litter in the Champaign area, especially North Prospect, with some claiming they have never seen the city so polluted before. In late spring this year, resident Michael Chrasta expects “a revival” of the Loving Our City cleanup initiative that was cancelled in March 2020 as COVID-19 entered the community.

Alpha Sigma Phi Fraternity on the University of Illinois campus has been placed on conduct probation until Nov. 16, 2021 after violating mask protocol and city emergency orders.

Additional campus COVID complaints show more unsafe, unhealthy and outlandish behavior

Post author:Dylan Tiger
Post published:March 10, 2021
Post category:CU-Covid19 Education

Students selling negative saliva test samples on Snapchat. Fraternity members threatening students for taking pictures of long bar lines. People leaving quarantine and isolation dorms to pick up Doordash food orders and then socialize. These were the events among the 200 complaints sent to university officials in the latter part of the fall semester in 2020 at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign.

Yidong "Ivor" Chen. Source: Change.org

University student readmitted after public outcry against “unfair” COVID disciplinary policy

Post author:Daria Makhneva / For CU-CitizenAccess
Post published:February 24, 2021
Post category:CU-Covid19 Education

A fourth-year international Ph.D. student who was dismissed from the University of Illinois for COVID non-compliance in the fall 2020 semester has been readmitted after public outcry. Now, he has proposed solutions to create a more “transparent and humane” policy.

Limited grants open for small businesses, local agency encourages applications

Post author:Claire O'Brien / For CU-CitizenAccess
Post published:February 8, 2021
Post category:Business CU-Covid19

The Local Initiative Supports Corporation partnered with Verizon to open a grant program for small businesses.

Source: U.S. Farm Credit Administration

Restaurants, religious organizations among top local industries that received PPP loans

Post author:Claire O'Brien / For CU-CitizenAccess and Dylan Tiger
Post published:February 8, 2021
Post category:Business CU-Covid19 Public Funds

The Small Business Administration released more data about businesses who received Paycheck Protection Program loans under $150,000. Previously, the SBA did not release business names for businesses that received loans under $150,000.

Champaign-Urbana Public Health District

Vaccination eligibility expands, new COVID strain found in county as campus cases show signs of increase

Post author:Claire O'Brien / For CU-CitizenAccess
Post published:February 3, 2021
Post category:CU-Covid19

After an opening week of classes where cases on campus ranged from 8 to 20 or so, the university reported 66 cases on Monday. On Feb. 2, the Champaign-Urbana Public Health District reported the first cases of the U.K. strain of COVID-19 in Champaign County.