A state report shows the amount of money taxpayers owe five state pension plans hit $100.5 billion on June 30.
But that's $3 billion less when not using a counting method adopted five years ago that made the pension picture brighter.
Auditor General William Holland released a report Wednesday that estimates the total retirement-fund debt based on a process called ``smoothing'' _ considering gains and losses during the past five years.
Without smoothing and instead considering current market value of assets, the total unfunded liability is $97 billion.
Democratic state Rep. Elaine Nekritz of Northbrook is a House pension leader. She notes smoothing brightens the picture in down times but encourages lawmakers not to abandon it in good times.
Lawmakers adopted a plan in December to reduce the pension debt
