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One provision of the revised ordinance creates a $3 million Property Tax Debt Relief Grant Pilot Program for low- and moderate-income homeowners in South Shore, Englewood and the Lower West Side who are at risk of losing their homes due to delinquent tax bills. Grants of up to $5,000 would be paid directly to Cook County to cover back taxes.
Summary and audio linked here.
Chicago’s political leadership is floating a pension buyout program as evidence it is seriously addressing the city’s thirty-six-billion-dollar unfunded pension liability, but Mark Glennon, founder of the Illinois policy research organization Wirepoints, said that the proposal moves debt from one column to another rather than reducing it, and that the broader fiscal picture facing the city continues to deteriorate across every measurable dimension. Audio here.
Expect no retraction or apology. This what they do.
The state’s existing buyout program for its own pensions is the precedent for Chicago, which should be a warning: Look out for similar exaggerated claims and shoddy analysis.
Full interview and summary linked here.
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