Audio: Wirepoints’ Mark Glennon says Chicago pension buyout plan mostly shifts debt rather than eliminating it, property tax surge doubles inflation over three decades – Chicago’s Morning Answer
April 3, 2026
9 Comments
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.
Illinois lost another 54,000 tax filers and dependents, net, according to the IRS. Since 2000, fleeing taxpayers have taken $94 billion of annual adjusted gross income with them.
So, in the article Tyler tested the system numerous times for the merger of Assessor, Clerk and Treasurer and was told by the County staff that it worked well. Once the client says it works, the vendor checks that off the list and moves on. The system can be made to do almost anything, but changes cost money…that is likely the crux of the problem. No one at the county wants to take responsibility for being the one telling Tyler that it worked, but now have to say they made a mistake. Where are the adults please…
Soo.. Pappas’ office can’t figure out how to write a check to someone owed monies that shows up with evidence of such, PIN numbers , receipts of taxes paid ( canceled checks, data from their bank, etc. ) ? How much are these people paid to fumble at their jobs on a daily basis?
Preckwinkle has already spent and wasted property tax money, so refunding the money is a problem.