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.
Contracts “work” when there are methods to modify impossible or unsustaiable promises. “Reliance theory” compounds the problem because it’s generally reasonable to rely on a promise made by government. The availability of bankruptcy is a necessary adjunct of contract law. Think about this in the context of expectations of water from the Colorado River or Western acquifers. You can’t make a contract with Mother Nature. States and municipalities are equally finite. Adjustments become necessary. The idea that Illinois has plenty of money because there are a few taxpayers who haven’t run out of money yet is seriously flawed because it… Read more »
Hasn’t passage of Amendment 1 more or less ended TIER II pension caps legislation???
No. It hasn’t.
Give all us chicagoan chumbalones the same deal as fake-progressive-equity-hustle CTU/BRANDON,,,,anything else would be less than equitable… I’m sure there’s a alternate mathematical reality out there somewhere to make it all possible?…or just make something up
What would the pension be if instead of the highest four years out of the last ten be if it were the average of the entire years worked. This is how the private sector works. So you can work part time as a teacher for most of your career because you want to raise a family then work full time plus over time the last four years before retirement and your pension is based on that. Also you can spike all of your unused vacation/sick days/personal days/etc and that counts towards the pension. If the value of the spike exceeds… Read more »
“What would the pension be if instead of the highest four years out of the last ten be if it were the average of the entire years worked.” Tier 2 pensions are paid on the highest 8 consecutive years of last 10 years worked. That change from the last 4 years has resulted in the tier 2 benefits being so low that they will most likely violate the safe harbor laws. Your plan would only make it worse. “This is how the private sector works. So you can work part time as a teacher for most of your career because… Read more »
8. Staff members possessing a minimum of ten years of service with the District shall be eligible for a retirement severance payment computed by multiplying his/her last daily rate of pay by twenty percent (20%) of accumulated sick leave days in excess of 105. This payment shall be made after the staff member’s receipt of his/her final paycheck from the District for services rendered, subject to the exception appearing below.The severance payment shall be made either with or prior to receipt of the staff member’s final paycheck, either in whole or part, to the extent such payment will not cause the staff member’s TRS creditable earnings for the… Read more »