-- Connecting the dots between our economy, government and business --
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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Whether the nine percent increase since 2007 has been “adjusted for inflation” (which should be a small adjustment given that the main factor for property tax changes are changes in assessed values), the nine percent figure seems unduly low. Based on my non-statistical look at property taxes in recent years for several Chicago-area residences, nine percent per year, not per 12 years, in property tax increases seems to be a more accurate figure.
Teachers need to get paid their pensions, community pools need to get built, and those mosquito aren’t abating themselves!