Despite allocating nearly $10 million to funding public safety employee pensions in next year’s budget — a seven-fold increase since 2011 that represents roughly one-sixth of all general fund expenditures — Oak Lawn’s pension burden continues to grow. As a result, Moody’s Dec. 23 downgraded Oak Lawn’s credit rating to junk.
While Moody’s latest downgrade will not spur Oak Lawn to reduce services, Bury said, it could result in the village looking to cut costs through outsourcing.
“No one likes (outsourcing), but it’s what you need to do to reduce costs,” she said. The mayor declined to specify what services might be outsourced, but said officials needed to “re-evaluate the organization” from top to bottom.
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.