Ted was on WJPF with Tom Miller last week discussing Illinois’ other retirement debt: The $73 billion the state owes in retiree health insurance benefits to state workers. That debt is entirely unfunded, meaning the state handles annual costs on a pay-go basis. Ted warned that increasing healthcare costs, coupled with even higher pension payments, will eat up even more of the state’s budget in the future. https://dehayf5mhw1h7.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/sites/28/2018/12/12091650/12.12.18-Dabrowski-Ted.mp3
Read Wirepoints’ full report here: Illinois’ other debt disaster: $73 billion in unfunded state retiree health insurance benefits – Wirepoints Special Report
Ted joined Tom Miller of WJPF to talk about Illinois’ highest-in-the-nation property taxes, why lawmakers don’t want to touch the tax’s cost drivers, just how much Illinoisans’ tax burden has grown over the decades, why Gov. Pritzker failed to meet his promise to reform property taxes, and more.
Ted joined Dan and Amy to talk about the free speech controversy brewing in Wilmette due to the city’s refusal to fly a religious freedom flag, the city’s left-wing excesses and the growing culture war, the latest money spent on the illegal immigrant crisis, and more.
Weekly crime statistics from the Chicago Police Department: Report through 4/14/2024.
Chicago Public Schools is failing its students in almost every way. What can be done to save the educational futures of Chicago’s children? Join Wirepoints’ Ted Dabrowski as he participates in an education roundtable discussion hosted by Seeking Educational Excellence (SEE).
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Just to give you a date point of what should be THE relevant comparison: The majority of private sector companies offer an average of 2.7% of a person’s pay plus 6.2% in Social Security(SS contribution maxes out after pay of $128,400). So up until $128,400 in pay the average private sector employer contributes 8.9% of pay. After your salary exceeds $128,400 the formula would be $7,960.80 plus 2.7% of salary. This comparing one den of thieves with another den of thieves is part of the problem. Public sector benefits should be based on the average of private sector benefits for… Read more »
Well if you just increase the budget until it’s only consuming 15%, problem solved. Fractions have numerators AND denominators!
I really appreciate the comparative data from other states. Since the progressive response is “ see our taxes are to low and if we raise the taxes the state will be more like other states”. These graduates of public school math see the problem as a % problem not a spending problem. We know Illinois is one the highest taxed states in the country but it would be good to juxtapose some metrics of % of income that goes to state and local taxes compared to other states. This would take away the inevitable progressive argument. Illinois has a unique… Read more »
So what’s the problem? Illinois just needs to fire 50% of it’s employees and close half the police/fire stations as well as half the public schools. Just don’t fire any administrative officials or reduce any layers of government cause we can’t survive without them. I really don’t see a problem here….lol
Mike-very true but I would add let’s have no more than 1 school district per county except for Cook. Florida has approx 7 million more people than Illinois but has only 65 districts.to our 868. Imagine the savings of eliminating duplicative top heavy administrative bloat of 768 districts. Winnebago county has 11 districts. McHenry county has 18. Boone district 100 has a superintendent and at least 4 assistant superintendents maybe 5. Home values are down in Boone year over year (1.67% for mine) yet taxes will probably go up.