-- Connecting the dots between our economy, government and business --
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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Even worse property value devastation in Illinois collar counties, and even farmland Statewide. (Farmland assessments are rising at parabolic rates, and farmlands taxed at local property tax rates which are often double Chicago and triple the national average.) Farmland will rapidly approach inflection point at which it makes more sense to convert to wasteland (assessed at 1/6th value). Consider that commercial multifamily residential real estate is assessed based upon a CAP rate which assumes roughly 13% of gross income goes to pay property taxes. Northern Illinois farmland in McHenry County pays far in excess of that ratio today. While commercial… Read more »