By Patrick Andriesen, includes “Peoria Mayor Rita Ali said her city has little option other than to take $4 million out of the current year’s budget to help make the city’s public safety pension payments for the next two years. … ‘We have a broken pension system throughout the state of Illinois, we’re not the only ones that are experiencing these huge liabilities. Under the current structure we have, we’ll never catch up, not in our lifetimes.’ … Peoria currently contributes $27 million to pensions each year, but should be contributing $40 million a year, City Manager Patrick Urich said.”