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"Next year, Chicago will contribute more than $1 billion toward the city’s teacher pension plan. A large portion of that money will come from the state, and another $550 million will come from a dedicated property tax levy the state authorized in 2018. And yet, all this money is not enough."
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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I just listened to an interview with the co-chair of his transition team and I can honestly say the woman has literally no clue. She couldn’t answer basic questions about prioritization, first 100 days, perspectives on big issues like the CTA….wow, just wow.
Taxistan’s Golden Goose, upper middle class taxpayers, realize there is No fixing the fiscal mess the state is in within raising ALL taxes.
Vote with your feet as I did 0ver 20 years ago and your bank account will thank you!!
Da Judge
The Pension Time bomb is exploding, and the explosion is far from over. Not only in the Chitty but all over the sorry State of Illinois. The cash flow is so negative it does not stand a chance of surviving. As taxes go up as they must, the people with higher incomes continue to flee in ever increasing numbers. It just keeps getting worse. This has been known for over 20 years. The Pension debt exceeds $200 billion, that is a very large number.
We better pay-up, we want to make sure CTU/Brandon gets his gaureteed Tier I $million/ multi-million$ pension deal….he did put in FOUR HARD years as teacher after all. Anything else wouldn’t be equitable!!
Johnson will make the pension mess much worse