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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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A billion dollar deficit?
How utterly “progressive”!
For the liberals following along, this projected deficit would be the equivalent of one ev charging station.
First we get the money.
Lovely. Everything except cutting costs is on the table. Brandon Johnson is running his city like he runs his household. Going into the hole, taking on debt, and then defaulting. remember, he was sued for not paying his Capital One credit cards!
When I read these stories I often wonder in the back of my mind if perhaps there was a lot of Illinois euphoria in the back rooms confident that Pritzker was going to grab the nod for a nomination. The team players were all behind Pritzker proclaiming praise for him all the way. The media was quick to parade his assorted spending photo ops and many of my liberal neighbors thought it was a sure thing With this in mind I just wonder if many were so confident that Pritzker would win, not if, and then naturally send out bundles… Read more »
As city population nosedives & debt skyrockets, will CTU/Brandon & crew have any appetite, or is it even possible to layoff the 2,375 additional city employees hired during & with COVID $bucks$ ?: “That shortfall will require the city to impose an “extended hiring freeze” and consider a “multi-year furlough plan” for a workforce that ballooned by 2,375 employees, to 36,420, during the pandemic, Ferguson said.”How will taxpayers make up for all the new programs, increased hires, etc once all the one time COVID $bucks are gone? Or, it would be great for WP/ IPI or others to try and… Read more »
Watch for the discussion about a City income tax to start percolating again. Lori floated the idea and of course her ham-handed staff didn’t even know how to get a serious discussion going on the topic. And Brandon had a couple of his stumble bumblers in Springfield talk about it last spring, but never made a serious run at it. There is no magic solution to this financial issue other than an income tax or a huge property tax increase, or a major pension reform earthquake, which is why Rahm ran for the exits.
:-O! Stumble Bumblers; I’m so stealing that.
Slickster Rahm could only admit the cities situation was a hopeless disaster on the way out the door. Or, does he deserve any credit for coming clean to taxpayers?
Curious why you would say he admitted that on the way out. I recall his message clearly being “mission accomplished” — that he had put the city on the right course.
Maybe overstatement, I was thinking of this, where rahm was admiting the pension payments are impossible and requires scrapping pension protection clause: https://news.wttw.com/2018/12/11/mayor-emanuel-change-state-constitution-pensions
A billion not including the additional 2.9 billion the CTU wants, get the popcorn this is going to interesting for those not in Chicago. Probably the best s…show of the century.
I believe all the great common sense city worker contract reform ideas Ferguson recommended, and of course where never acted on, are for all practical purposed dead due to passage of Amendment 1. Likewise for any hope of simply competitively bid contracting city services like garbage collection, etc.
“During his long tenure as Chicago’s inspector general, Ferguson made many cost-cutting recommendations, such as cutting staff on garbage trucks and eliminating a mandate of five employees on every piece of Chicago Fire Department apparatus.”
Governing is hard Brando. You aren’t up to the challenge. It is only going to get worse, and you’re already out of answers. JB has his own problems looming, and then there’s that regional transportation problem. No more Covid bail out bucks coming your way either. Lori Lightweight is beginning to realize how lucky she was to lose.
Can anyone out there tell me who is going to pay for the $1 billion dollar shortfall? Anyone?
If you guessed Chicago taxpayers, you win the door prize. Now go back to work slaves and earn some more money for your masters.
Absolutely! Free range slaves on an open plantation…for those with eyes to see.
Don’t be so sure, the Chicago legislature dominates Springfield and they very well push some of these costs on the entire state and the odds become more terrifying as more and more counties go blue.
There is a Youtube blogger by the name of Anton Daniels who has just broken down the i billion dollar deficit facing Chicago. He is financially adept, but is not hesitant to use street level jargon. I find him refreshing. His view is that the deficit is way worse than advertised. Worth a listen.
By the way, I think the most powerful block in Springfield is the suburban counties. While they are now predominately blue they are not big supporters of subsidizing Chicago.