Metropolitan Water Reclamation District FY2019 Tentative Budget: Analysis and Recommendations

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December 06, 2018

Click here to read the full report. 

The Civic Federation supports the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago’s (MWRD) proposed FY2019 Tentative Budget of $1.09 billion. The District continues a proactive plan to fund the MWRD Retirement Fund annually at a level that is projected to reach 100% funding by 2050. The District also follows a number of other best financial practices including a strong capital improvement plan, a five-year financial forecast, maintaining high general operating reserves, using working cash funds rather than short-term borrowing when awaiting property tax revenue and holding study sessions on the budget and capital improvement plan.

While the Civic Federation fully supports the District’s pension funding plan, the Federation remains concerned about the potential effect a court challenge to the MWRD’s pension reform law could have on the funded status of the pension fund. As a precautionary step, the Civic Federation urges the District to work with the Retirement Fund to evaluate the possible impact of a partial or full reversal of its pension funding reform law and publicly release the findings on how this could affect the Retirement Fund’s funded status as well as the District’s budget.

Click here to read the press release for this analysis.