-- Connecting the dots between our economy, government and business --
Based on a random sample of properties subsidized in 2017, Inspector General Joe Ferguson concluded that 45.8% failed to meet “minimum housing quality standards” and 61.4% did not fully comply with the Chicago building code.
“We’re going to call them for some kind of hearing and make them answer some questions in the public about the broader framing of what they were doing, how they were using their shareholders’ dollars, and give us assurances that we can be comfortable doing business with them,” Lightfoot said, according to reports.
As a former federal prosecutor, Lightfoot must know that a public hearing, conducted in the midst of an ongoing federal investigation, may be the last thing U.S. Attorney John Lausch and his colleagues in the Dirksen Federal Building need right now.
Illinois is among the states considering something similar.
Initial assessments are in, covering the north and northwest suburbs, and they show valuations for commercial, industrial and larger apartment properties increased by more than 74%, compared with less than 16% for homes, a Tribune analysis found.
The result may be a significant shift in how the property tax burden is divided up — with homeowners paying less and business owners paying more. A Tribune analysis shows that if Kaegi’s initial property values stand, businesses would pick up 44% of the combined
Pensions get all the attention when it comes to Illinois’ collapsing finances. But there’s another government-worker benefit also wreaking fiscal havoc – free and heavily-subsidized health insurance for retired state workers, teachers and community college employees. Illinois owed more than $68 billion in retiree health benefits to state workers as of 2018.
A nice summary of major items the General Assembly will address in the new session starting next month.
The bottom three (Illinois, Kentucky, and New Jersey) are even more underfunded, dropping from ~50% funding in 2013 down to only ~38% in 2017.
A disturbing fact about the three worst funded state pensions is that they have been receiving more money, yet are more underfunded. According to the report, these states “had an average employer contribution rate of more than 31 percent of payroll in 2017—a 22 percentage point increase since 2007.”
“What we … just did in the hopes of saving money is told [law-abiding residents] that, when these neighborhood terrorists continue to terrorize their communities and are caught, and if anything happens, we’re willing to pay them hush money to go away. That is unacceptable. We have told these neighborhoods that, ‘You are on your own,’” Lopez said.
“It is disgusting to me as an alderman. It is disgusting to me as a member of the Brighton Park community — and more so as a [resident of] the city of Chicago that we would even consider paying a
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