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Chicago’s ability to weather looming financial storms took a hit when the Chicago Board of Education refused to cover a 2024 pension payment that’s become a political hot-potato. According to the newly released audit, the city ended 2024 with a $161 million deficit in its general fund, driven by the loss of the $175 million payment city officials anticipated would be reimbursed by Chicago Public Schools.
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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I read a lot. I tried to read this article twice and am totally lost, other than to know the entire mess is a giant hot steaming pile of do-do con job of epic proportions. Honorable reporting writing, some graphs or visuals would have help a lot. Does anybody on team $Brando$ care if average chumbolone schmuck has a clue about budget? you can bet 90% of alders are clueless as well…..and yes, Berg is correct Chicago desperately needs a charter requiring GAAP budgeting, as Chicago is only major city without one…otherwise is just a complete colossal con job and… Read more »
As usual, they don’t link to the document — the audit. And Chicago does not have it posted yet. We will write on our own when the let us see it.