Elk Grove Village Mayor Craig Johnson said Elk Grove Village’s police and fire pensions took up 53 percent of the village’s property tax collection, up from 18 percent in 2000. Many towns around the state face the same problem, larger and larger government pension bills crowding out services for residents.
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.