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.
The following are the pension unfunded liabilities in the FY ending December 31, 2018 City of Evanston CAFR, rounded up and down.
IMRF – $12M.
Downstate Police – $118M.
Downstate Fire – $96M.
Total – $226M.
No thanks.