-- Connecting the dots between our economy, government and business --
Three months ago, new Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi sent a letter to more than 1,100 homeowners in New Trier Township all but promising them a surprise property tax break because they live on a floodplain.
It’s now clear they’re not going to get it.
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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Luckily for most of the cook county taxpayers this is nothing more than a North Shore pillow fight. The idea that the assessor can discern the reduced value a propety carries from being in a flood plain with the myriad factors that go into a buyer and seller agreeing on a price.is ridiculous. Next up: reducing North Shore values because they’re not close enough to a Starbucks.