City Council's Discretion In Levying a Tax to Support Pension Funds

In Board of Trustees of the Police Pension Fund v. City of Rockford, 96 Ill. App. 3d 102, 51 Ill. Dec. 568, 420 N.E.2d 1126 (1981), the boards for the police pension fund and the firemen's pension fund reported to the City of Rockford the amounts that the boards would need levied to meet the requirements of the two pension funds. City of Rockford, 96 Ill. App. 3d at 102-03. Instead of levying a tax that would meet the requirements of the pension funds as proposed by the boards, the City of Rockford levied a tax for the pensions that collected far less than the boards had requested. City of Rockford, 96 Ill. App. 3d at 102-03. The issue presented to this court was whether the city council had discretion in determining the amount to be levied for the pension funds. City of Rockford, 96 Ill. App. 3d at 106. The court concluded that the actuarial figures on which the boards relied in requesting money for the pension funds were not binding on the city council. City of Rockford, 96 Ill. App. 3d at 106-07. The court reasoned that the figures the board proposed to the city council were not binding on the city council because the legislature did not intend to remove all of the city council's discretion in levying a tax to support the pension funds. City of Rockford, 96 Ill. App. 3d at 108.