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.
What happens to all of that money not being spent on salary, benefits etc? There must be millions of extra cash laying around so who gets it?
They’ll be lucky to break even in headcount for years to come. Too many are counting the days until retirement. Chicago is going to reap what it has sown.