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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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“The case is Michael W. Underwood et al. v. City of Chicago et al., 16 CH 17450.”
A related case follows.
“Unlike those amendments, Cohen ruled, later ones made in 1989, 1997 and 2003 — which came by way of settlement agreements between parties in the case City of Chicago v. Korshak, 87 CH 10134 — included express time-limited terms that did not provide annuitants with lifetime benefits.”
http://www.chicagolawbulletin.com/archives/2016/07/22/chicago-worker-benefits-7-22-16.aspx
When I worked at a state university in Illinois, I was a bit angry that I (hired in 1990) had to pay 1.45% of my salary towards Medicare when all of my colleagues (hired prior to 1986) did not. Boy am I happy now that I qualify for Medicare! Yes, I know that the ISC did require the state to continue to provide health insurance to retirees on terms that they were promised, but I am not exactly confident that will actually happen much longer. So, bottom line, post-1986 Chicago employees will be just fine, but allowing the city to… Read more »
Luckily, city retirees who don’t qualify for Medicare will find an excellent, affordable plan under ACA.