Fiscal watchdog Truth in Accounting reports every Chicagoan is on the hook for $135,700 when combining city and state debt. The cost of union benefits is driving that burden, with 69% of the city’s nearly $98 billion debt total owed to pensions and another 6.7% owed to other post-employment benefits like retiree health insurance.
A largely unasked question is becoming glaring: Is Illinois doing all it should to use artificial intelligence to make government cost less and work better? So far, the evidence says no.