Public Accountability Report Public Accountability Report

2025 Benefits Administration
Mission Statement To secure and deliver the benefits promised to our members.
Program Goals and Objectives
  1. Assure the financial soundness of the System.
    1. Achieve high levels of member and stakeholder satisfaction.
      1. Be a great place to work, with an emphasis on learning, growth, diversity, equity, and inclusion.
        1. Develop and sustain efficient, high-quality processes, tools, and technology.
          1. Protect SURS assets through sound risk-management and ethical practices.
            Source of Funds General Revenue Fund, State Pensions Fund Statutory Authority 40 ILCS 5/1, 5/15
            Fiscal Year 2026 Target/Projected Fiscal Year 2025 Actual Fiscal Year 2025 Target/Projected Fiscal Year 2024 Actual Fiscal Year 2023 Actual
            Input Indicators
            Total expenditures - all sources (in thousands) $ 2,398,832.0 $ 2,294,158.2 $ 2,286,784.0 $ 2,213,598.3 $ 2,194,517.4
            Total expenditures - state appropriated funds (in thousands) $ 2,319,446.0 $ 2,212,810.0 $ 2,212,810.0 $ 2,133,335.0 $ 2,118,567.0
            Average monthly full-time equivalents 201.0 185.0 198.0 173.0 169.0
            Member contributions (in millions) $ 575.2 $ 528.8 $ 555.1 $ 486.2 $ 425.9
            Employer contributions (in millions) $ 2,398.8 $ 2,294.2 $ 2,286.8 $ 2,252.4 $ 2,233.3
            Investment income (in millions) $ 1,648.7 $ 1,751.6 $ 1,593.6 $ 1,992.0 $ 1,456.1
            Total expenses (in millions) $ 3,580.0 $ 3,726.1 $ 3,437.1 $ 3,574.5 $ 3,438.6
            Benefits expenses and contribution refunds (in millions) $ 3,385.0 $ 3,565.5 $ 3,250.0 $ 3,416.6 $ 3,295.4
            Investment expenses (in millions) $ 155.6 $ 132.0 $ 150.6 $ 132.4 $ 118.0
            Administrative expenses (in millions) (a) $ 38.7 $ 28.6 $ 36.5 $ 25.5 $ 25.3
            Output Indicators
            Number of active members (Traditional Pension Plan) 64,521 63,788 64,656 63,063 61,509
            Number of inactive members (Traditional Pension Plan) 93,748 92,738 93,799 91,739 89,724
            Number of benefit recipients (Traditional Pension Plan) 74,576 73,937 74,033 73,303 72,580
            Number of active members (RSP) 14,778 14,163 14,027 13,574 13,136
            Number of inactive members (RSP) 11,669 11,484 11,598 11,302 11,014
            Number of benefit recipients (RSP) 2,324 2,050 2,032 1,808 1,609
            Number of refund payments 3,451 3,679 3,333 3,109 3,565
            Number of benefit payments 895,856 888,474 892,877 881,153 869,583
            Annual benefit payments (retirement, survivor, disability benefits) (in millions) $ 3,295.1 $ 3,187.8 $ 3,172.6 $ 3,084.0 $ 2,997.9
            Number of counseling visits (b) 15,263 14,818 12,005 12,302 12,143
            Number of customer service telephone calls 83,183 80,834 93,862 81,960 86,755
            Number of SURS-covered employers 61.0 61.0 61.0 61.0 61.0
            Number of employer payrolls processed 1,964 1,957 1,914 1,950 1,911
            Outcome Indicators
            Days to process a retirement claim 22.4 21.8 20.0 20.3 19.3
            Days to process a refund request (c) 22.0 21.6 27.0 29.8 31.8
            Fund investment return (gross of fees) - 1 year (d) N/A 6.60% N/A 8.40% 5.50%
            Fund investment return (gross of fees) - 3 years (e) N/A 6.80% N/A 4.20% 8.90%
            SURS funded ratio (market value) N/A 46.70% N/A 46.10% 45.40%
            Average monthly retirement benefit (not coordinated with Social Security) (in dollars) $ 3,893.00 $ 3,815.05 $ 3,817.80 $ 3,738.63 $ 3,661.09
            External Benchmarks
            Investment return: market goal/policy portfolio - 1 year (d) N/A 6.10% N/A 9.00% 6.10%
            Efficiency/Cost-Effectiveness Indicators
            Administrative cost per member (in dollars) (c) $ 166.20 $ 123.91 $ 157.00 $ 111.76 $ 112.90
            Administrative costs as a percentage of total expenses (c) 1.10% 0.80% 1.10% 0.70% 0.70%
            Investment expense as a percentage of total assets N/A 0.50% N/A 0.50% 0.40%
            Footnotes
            The increase in budgeted administrative costs is primarily due to increasing personnel costs for new positions that were vacant in all of fiscal year 2025 and that are expected to be filled in fiscal year 2026, and increasing insurance costs. In addition, the SURS budget includes an increase in costs to replace the current pension administrative system software for training and OCM support from Linea, and carryover of fiscal year 2025 projects not completed. Counseling visits increased in fiscal year 2025 due to an increase in the number of members retiring over fiscal year 2024. The days to process a refund request dropped from 29.8 in fiscal year 2024 to 21.6 in fiscal year 2025 due to a date adjustment on revised refund requests that were skewing the number of days to be higher because it looked at the original refund request date instead of the revised date. In addition, the new SURS staff from last year are now fully trained and processing refunds more quickly. The variance is due to rising interest rates, uncertain federal policies leading to less robust stock market returns, and a poor environment for private equity exits and distributions. The variance is due to fiscal year 2022 (a bad year for performance) rolled out of the three-year calculation.

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