Here’s a little tale about how breezily Illinois state government imposes unfunded mandates on municipalities.
You may recall earlier this year when the General Assembly passed a bill that Gov. JB Pritzker signed to increase certain pension benefits for Chicago firefighters. The new law is expected to cost Chicago some $850 million and could drop the funded status from what was an already abysmal 18% down to an even-worse 16%.
Well, it appears that Illinois Senate leadership didn’t even bother to talk to Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot before mandating that additional burden.
The Chicago Tribune has released Lightfoot email and text messages it obtained on a number of matters. One went from Lightfoot to Senate President Don Harmon. “A courtesy call regarding the fire pension bill would have been helpful, particularly since there is no funding for it,” Lightfoot said. “When that pension fund collapses, I will be talking a lot about this vote.”
Four hours later, according to the Tribune, Lightfoot texted Harmon again: “Wanted to give you a heads up that we are sending a strongly worded statement to the media about the fire pension bill.” He did not text back to either message.
We’ve written often about how Illinois municipalities are hog-tied by unfunded mandates. What does another $850 million matter for Chicago? Not much, apparently.
And note that Lightfoot wrote “when” that pension fund collapses, not “if.”
In another messages quoted by the Tribune from Lightfoot to Chicago Federation of Labor President Bob Reiter, Lightfoot labeled the pension bill the “Jim Tracy and Madigan are about to F—Chicago bill.” Jim Tracy is the Chicago firefighters union president and Madigan was House Speaker at the time.
-Mark Glennon
Audio and summary 
If this bill passes, say goodbye to local control over all Illinois parks and expect to see open drug and alcohol use, needles, no sanitation and fire hazards, but no ordinary park users.
Well Ms. Lightfoot the Chicago voting block has saddled the downstate with assorted mandates, laws and regulation over the years so get used to it.
I hadn’t thought of that. Downstate folks must despise Chicago, sucking up resources and basically deciding every election. I’m starting to take the states side on this, let them put Chicago’s b^11$ in a vice and turn the screws for a change.
What are needed are real solutions not bickering. Both sides have a valid point. On one side pensions are guaranteed by the Illinois constitution and the other side (taxpayers/communities) are saddled with unfunded liabilities and have a difficult task of appropriating funds without neglecting the needs of the community. There seems to be no give but take on one side and not much left to give on the other. To put this into perspective Elon Musk has a net worth of $280B and Jeff Bezos has $205B. Think of it 2 people just 2 have a combined net worth of… Read more »
The public employee ‘pension crisis’ is largely confined to Blue States – it’s not nationwide.
The ‘independent’ Illinois Supreme Court, which is stacked with Democrat partisans, in so many words declared the State of Illinois has the authority to confiscate private property so keep raising taxes. I fully expect Pritzker and Democrats to do just that – keep raising taxes, irregardless of the damage done. The people can eat cake.
Good point but what I meant by national wide is that the approx $4T or so in unfunded liabilities primarily in blue states will have to be paid by states that are good stewards of public money in the event of some sort of federal pension bailout in the form of higher taxes. I’m not sure of confiscating private property directly but higher property taxes eat away or diminish equity. In states like Az and Co tax rates are less than 1% of value and property values are increasing dramatically like Phoenix at 33% in one year. So even though… Read more »
“both sides”? Therein lies the problem, you assume the taxpayer is one of the sides. In reality the only two at the table negotiating are government and the unions. The taxpayer aint at the table, we are the dog on the floor begging for leftovers. Or the lamb waiting to become the dinner.
It feels more like we are the oxen they put into yokes to serve them.
Taxpayers in Illinois are viewed as Suckers by Pritzker and the Supermajority Democrats and the public employee unions.
Always vote blue no matter who because abortion and republicans are racists or something. They’re making the trade-off – give us our leftist progressive social values and we’ll let you fleece us in taxes. 45% of the state voted for the progressive tax knowing full well the progressive tax would ultimately raise their taxes too. But they are willing to be fleeced financially as long as they win the cultural war. Which is crazy because they may have won that battle – the cultural issues – but they’ve lost the war as the state’s finances are trashed, people are fleeing… Read more »
People come in all stripes and don’t have to adhere to hour sense of what’s important. Get over it.
There’s two stripes in IL: Grifters and taxpayers.
Yes, that’s your major two distinctions among people, it always appears, and done in the least charitable way you can every time. Why not move somewhere else where the political climate is more agreeable to you. Life is short, after all, and probably getting shorter every time you are so strongly agitated by the dreaded THEM.
youre the ” them” teacher james,good luck with your ramen noodles
I’m flexible in mind and spirit and old enough to have lived in various economic situations. Easy come, easy go. We all are subject to dying anyway soon enough. My financial status wouldn’t likely affect that date by more than a few days regardless.
Pretty free spirited, don’t worry be happy! Until someone talks about pension reform or the dismal state of education……
I’m as upset about those things as you seem to think. I’ve “been there, done that” and mostly moved on. I do give my thoughts here from time to time, but I know I’m in a mostly hostile world here. You’ll all choose individually whether what I say has any value to you. That’s the way of life in a democracy and “hallelujah” for it.
James – to the extent you believe in you are a hostile world here, contribute something beyond mere emotional reactions. Substance is difficult in Illinois for an educator because the math is indefensible and yet educators at the same time have a very vested interest in the health of the system. But that shouldn’t preclude commenting with rigor and on matters of substance. Telling commenters to get over it is do devoid of value it makes it very difficult to take you seriously. My fifth grade teacher friend retired at age 55 from a public system in Illinois years back… Read more »
“to the extent you believe in you are a hostile world here, contribute something beyond mere emotional reactions.” I’ve done that several times, and you’ve been on this website long enough to have observed such postings presumably should you have had sufficient interest at those times. Such postings almost always receive little response at all or vitriolic responses in some cases. Nonetheless I’ve offered a few ideas from time to time how the pension funding crisis might be ameliorated. My longer term view is essentially as ohers often post here–“math wins.” If there is an implosion surely it won’t happen… Read more »
Because I will not allow myself to be expelled from my place of birth like the Spanish Expulsion of 1492.
So, you obviousy choose to stay in a political environment that you hate while you are self employed and could likely live anywhere to the extent you can doing much of your work by computer and telephone? Even moving to IN or WI would seem to improve your disposition. Apparently you mosly just love to complain more than you’d care to realize. You’ve said you are divorced, and its not too much of a stretch to guess one of the reasons for it.
James is right. Life is short. IL is no longer home to Americans. Only socialist democrats and neocons are left in IL. I left IL 5 years ago for nebraska. After NE gave one electoral vote to Xiden I moved to Oklahoma. Oil, beef and freedom here. Oklahoma is entirely red. Every county in the last two elections were red. Gas is $2.69 / gallon electricity is cheap cheap cheap. The only thing left to do is get out and save your retirement money for yourself. Don’t give it to corrupt politicians and greedy public retirees. IL is literally little… Read more »
See, debtor, Nirvana awaits!!
You misinterpret my meaning. The taxpayers are the one responsible when targets are not met for funding levels/returns falling short/etc. Many say that the taxpayer voted for this which is partly true. Those who voted for it or voted for the politicians who passed these bills are the recipients and their families who benefit from these negotiations. How many taxpayers who are not beneficiaries were even aware of what was going on? When these were implemented decades ago by lawmakers there was no internet for the most part. The info we got was local news or newspapers and most likely… Read more »
Why not grant Chicago the right to declare BK if they so choose to? Let the elected leaders of Chicago decide Chicago’s fate.
We have lost total control (decades ago) of Ill/Chicago politicians. They are owned by the public unions and attorneys, and care little about any fiduciary responsibility to non public union taxpayers. They will not release. Only actions that will work is total collapse, or the non-public union taxpayers funding a billion$ plus lobbying group….with real power.
I remember when this occurred. We’d like to think that these guys are in a backroom where guys like Harmon are saying, “Listen, I’m going to pay a political price for this, so this is the last one I can do.” But then you realize that there is no political price. They keep doing it because of that. It is purely transactional for them. They couldn’t care less about the state’s fiscal status, or preserving hard fought taxpayer funds. The unions don’t care, either. Their idea is to get theirs before everyone else does. They figure that, yeah, it will… Read more »
The solution is to leave Illinois. Yes, I know that will be extremely cumbersome, but in the long run it’s the best thing you can do for your family and isn’t that the ultimate consideration? Have you ever seen someone comment that leaving Illinois was a mistake?
Nope . No one says it was mistake leaving…. NO ONE !! I get that it is hard for some to leave (family, work etc). But staying and paying you are subsidizing the corruption . Problem is now anywhere you want to move…..the R/E values are up over 100% around the US in favorable states ….while IL is up maybe 10% and hasn’t really moved at all on North Shore where I left from …..but the property taxes up another 20-30% in just the 4 years since I left the area. Leave and let Dems pick up the tab. Federal… Read more »
Don’t worry Lori, Moody, Fitch and S&P will come to the rescue with great rates and low risk products for investors. The only thing you have to do is sell the citizenry into slavery for them. Then they will come through, problem gone.
They are putting all their eggs in the Tier 2 basket. They’re banking that the pension funding percentage will improve enough in the next 10-15 years so that they can then begin to dole out big time Tier 2 pension enhancements. That’s why they are so flippant with stuff like this.
I believe this Fire Pension increase was for Tier 2.
The savior of Tier 2 is gone.
Seems Sen Martwick is always the behind the scenes go to guy for all the city unions from SEIU, CTU to FOP to get their pay-to-play deals thru Springfield. Didn’t he sponsor the firefighter pension deal? …city taxpayers/voters are just a jokesters to be played
Hmmm…Wasn’t a Martwick John Wayne Gacy’s sponsor in Summerdale? Perhaps his spawn?
NB, yes Martwick is key. Read this Forbes piece on his role: https://www.forbes.com/sites/ebauer/2021/05/10/chicago-firefighters-pension-update-is-pritzker-a-fool-a-coward-or-a-liar/?sh=6479a9ec7800 He is the worst of the worst.
Martwick is listed as one of several sponsores on a gillion pension amendment bills that no chump taxpayer/voter could ever possibly keep up with. https://legiscan.com/IL/people/robert-martwick/id/15382?page=1
NB, he was nationally ridiculed for suggesting that IL could roll all its pension debt into one big bond, which he somehow thought the state could sell. Total machine hack and public union lackey. And he chairs the Senate pension committee!
The junk bond market has been really hot the past few years as investors chase yield. I wouldn’t be surprised if there was investor demand for that junk bond grade pension debt. If the state defaulted, the feds would likely just bail them out. It’s forever “heads I win, tails you lose” with the taxpayer being on the losing end of these deals.
Mark, dumb question, Illinois has 100s & 100s of teacher, cop, fire, etc local municipal pensions (most by far in country to go along with its crazy 7,000 units of gov). Is the only way for any of those 100s of pension plans to be amended is thru state approval via an amendment bill?
None of them can be amended. They can not be diminished or impaired. Every last one of them.
Inflationary. BTC to the moon.
Enjoy the fiat, peasant.
Thanks Locket. The pensioners will be enjoying their 3% increase at midnight. A midnight toast to the new year along with a raise of 4k for 2022. Although less than inflation so maybe need to organize and see if we can get our compounding increased to 5 or 6%.
Incredibly you somehow managed to steel man my flippant straw man comment.
Bravo, you deserve a slow clap.
Think long game, paper and your constitutional agreements are worthless.
Slow clap some more for you, peasant.
You’ve earned it!
Please sir….I want some more……….some more money for my pension increase.
1 picture from the past sums up the future.
Enjoy 2022
Peasant
I like the peasant talk Locke. Public sector workers are practically peasants and should get more money. That should be part of organized labor’s effort to increase the annual compounding amount to a much higher percentage. I can hear it now, “It’s the right thing to do for our valued workers.” Gov Thompson was probably thinking the same thing when he advocated for the 3% compounded raises.
Keep steel manning my point buddy..
Soon, I’ll need to send you the ‘Winner of the Internet’ ™ official trophy.
Or will I?
Let’s watch this local and national debacle play out, as Modern Monetary Theory has put us in the super bonus round game mode.
Go Rothbard, FTW!
hey Locke,dont waste your time with this clown,not worth it,he’s got 6:00 oclock appt with Pritzker at the local bath house anyway,so he ‘ ll be busy playing footsy with JB for a couple of hours
Still using gay jokes Jabroni. That about sums up your level of intellect. I read one of your earlier post Jabroni. You talked about how you bought a townhouse two years ago. Then you went on to talk about how you regretted your decision because of Illinois politics and financial situation. You are on this board constantly complaining but you invested in this state when you bought your home. Maybe Illinois will be just fine when we have people such as yourself that hate it here but still lay down roots. Did you not understand how bad Illinois finances were… Read more »
Illinois finances were bad but the political climate was tolerable. The political environment today is outright hostile towards anyone not a progressive. Even regular Democrats are run out of office and run out of town. Support progressive values or be trampled upon politically and economically.
are you done rubbing lotion on JB already,jeez,figured youd be busy most of the night
Thanks for proving my point below.
I only give what I get Prozac. You and others take great joy in hoping for a bankrupt Illinois and I merely give it back. Don’t start none, won’t be none.
No joy, only a respect for reality, and an understanding that government decrees do not make reality.
I respect reality as well. That’s why I know taxes will need to be increased to cover the debt.
Rome would never fall either…
That wasn’t his question. Moving the goal post again debtsor. But sure…Illinois is going to fail at any moment. Blah Blah Blah.
You said “None of them can be amended. They can not be diminished or impaired. Every last one of them.” My comment about Rome was that trying to imply that things people say never happen eventually do happen. And who is to say that IL’s finances won’t completely collapse during the next recession or depression? You keep pointing out that tax revenues have increased massively in the past decade but that is because of inflation and increased taxes not because the state’s economy is expanding at the same rate. A bad recession, which is due, combined with high inflation, high… Read more »
Never said that debtsor. I believe that any state can fail. I don’t believe you are going to be able to reduce the debt with legislation. I believe the only way the debt is ever reduced is through failure. When that happens bondholders will get a few pennies on the dollar while pensioners will receive the maximum possible out of all those that are owed. Taxpayers will receive reduced services and increased taxes.
It’s in my handle for crying out loud. It’s not pensioners will be paid forever but rather first.
“But sure…Illinois is going to fail at any moment.”
Uh, that’s exactly you said sarcastically.
The reality is that pensions will be paid first, until they’re not, and everyone else’s guess is as good as mine when that day will arrive. But the only one who is wrong is you that pensions will never be paid last because it denies the reality of math.
PPF, Just like Arizona and Rhode Island couldn’t be amended, right? You and JB can keep yelling all you want that pension reform is impossible, but anybody following this knows the truth.
Mark, Arizona and RI are not Illinois. Just because “your people” tell you it’s true doesn’t make it so. You also told us that PR pensioners would see an 8.5% cut in bankruptcy. Sure the board recommended the cuts and instead additional legislation was passed to undo that. It appears the judge may allow it. You also told us that bondholders that were secured with revenue were ahead of others. That didn’t hold true as well. My point is that until it is decided by the courts you have no idea as to the outcome. Anything you say otherwise is… Read more »
Basic math says it will happen in our expected lifetimes. Many communities struggle to pay their pensions. When too many communities struggle to pay pensions, there will be a political will to fix the problem.
The wishful thinking is that the pensions will be paid. They will not. It may require the near collapse of the state and Republican control of all three branches of the federal government, and the outcome will be punitive, but the day is most certainly coming.
PPF, “My people,” as in the courts? I never predicted the amount of any cut in PR and have not followed it closely, but I’m glad you think I got something right. Regarding the status of secured bondholders, I have always said that the newfangled securitized bonds have never been fully tested in court, and always properly described how secured debt is treated in bankruptcy. If we never know the outcome for sure until courts have ruled (which is true) why does your earlier comment say it’s flat-out impossible to do? But your certainly right that finding candidates who are… Read more »
Wrong. They can ignore this just like the balanced budget amendment and others
Correct. Or potentially though municipal bankruptcy, but the state would have to authorize that.
Hope I live long enough to see these pension funds collapse and the government unions squeal like pigs. What’s your best guess, Mark? Ten years? Who goes bankrupt first, city, state, or which pension funds?
There aren’t too many traits more degrading to one’s moral character than to be accused of having Schadenfreude. Those who seek to better the perception others have of them will not fall into that trap. You can curse the darkness or bring light to the world. Choose the better way.
“Only the State obtains its revenue by coercion…That coercion is known as ‘taxation,’ although in less regularized epochs it was often known as ‘tribute.’ Taxation is theft, purely and simply even though it is theft on a grand and colossal scale which no acknowledged criminals could hope to match. It is a compulsory seizure of the property of the State’s inhabitants, or subjects.”
Murray Rothbard
A more degrading trait- schadenfreude over another’s problems, combined with gloating over being the beneficiary of those problems. Seems I have seen more than a little gloating from certain sectors.
Neither is a prize-winning personal attribute. You can add name calling as well. We need to summon our better selves as a society rather than seek to slaughter those with different points of view. What happened to the concept of trying to use persuasion. That’s almost a dead art form in America. We all want guns instead, and the bigger the better.
The left were invited into the dialog, and proceeded to shut down all differing opinions, while the right sat on their hands dithering.
Talk has been cheap and wasteful.
Time for revenge on both sides is approaching.
No, deals can always be made if the enticements are right! It requires thought, empathy, perception, dialogue, persuasion, etc. But, warfare isn’t the answer.
Wow, how did you get to “we all want big guns”?
I agree that persuasion is a lost art. Too many don’t see the need for persuasion. They believe their ideas are obviously correct, and therefore feel justified in using coercion to implement them. The key difference- one side wants to force others to act in conformance with “righthink”. The other side is trying to stop “rightthink” from being enforced. Nobody believes guns are the answer.
Just trying to make a point. Ever heard of hyperbole?
I wish my enemies the worst, just as my enemies wish the worst upon me.
And I suppose you take great pride is saying so. Why am I not surprised?
Because that hippy “peace on earth” stuff doesn’t work because the world is filled with bad actors with bad intentions. Our state has gone off the deep end intentionally punishing it’s political enemies, making the environment difficult for their enemies to continue in the state. JB won’t even give those leaving the pleasure of his acknowledge the massive outflow immigration of conservatives fleeing the state, calling the census figures a drop in the bucket mostly comprised of college students, which we all know with the newest 7/20-7/21 census figures to be a complete lie. And you want me to not… Read more »
No one else can make your life miserable. You have to allow that to occur. Change your life’s focus if you want happiness.
Be careful James, you are running afoul of the current narrative. You know, the one that claims problems are the fault of everything and everyone else? You certainly can’t believe that we are each the agents of our own lives, can you?
I only know my narrative and have no advocacy for “the current narrative.” I have made no statement advocating what you’ve mentioned. To me, that’s what many here complain—that their lives are in ruin by others who have different political beliefs, namely the progressives and a bloated do-nothing govt. employee class as many describe it. I have some sympathy there but its not a key political belief for me as it is for many here.
The whole of human history is littered with examples of man’s malevolence towards his fellow man (and woman to maintain equality). Those who think that somehow today’s civilization has achieved some sort of enlightened “they won’t be mean if we just try to understand them” theory of coexistence, exhibit such a magificent level of self-delusional hubris, it’s breathtaking. In general, people are terrible, given the chance. And always, absolute power corrupts absolutely.
And right now, one man – gastric bypass surgery candidate #1 – has absolute power over IL’s COVID-19 policy and he has abused it.
They will confiscate your real property before they collapse…it’s Illinois you know.
… which is why it is foolish to live in Illinois one minute longer than absolutely necessary.
Leaving Illnois for FL was one of the best things we have ever done for ourselves.
I will fight to the death if they come for my toilet paper. I will flush it down the toilet first.
IF there is a major economic downturn in the next couple of years that might just get your wish granted.
The economic downturn has already started in China and it’s enormous. The double whammy of corona shutting down factories while the real estate industry collapses is going to have ramifications around the world, from the off-shore bond market, to currency market, to the commodities market, to supply chain issues, to inflation. I read somewhere, and i can’t find the exact state, but they’ve poured an absurd and eye popping amount of (shoddy) concrete in the past decade, and when market drives up, it’s going have ramifications around the world….How bad will the US suffer? I’ve read that foreclosure companies are… Read more »
Union bosses are rewarding state lawmakers with campaign cash for ignoring the need for constitutional pension reform. Union dues are being utilized to ruin the pension funds of public employees. None of this makes sense.
Sounds about right. Springfield has their heads up their asses.