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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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Jbs rational to city tax payers for added firefighters pension cost is its really not going to be an added tax burden because hes going to sell the Thompson center and supposedly the future prop tax revenue will pay for the firefighter pensions??…none of which has happened. He’s passing bills that city taxpayers are 100% libel for based on a future tax revenue that doesnt exist and/or leveraging potential future city assets for his gov organized labor buddies…so much for social equity?
House Bill 2451 (HB 2451) was signed into law as Public Act 101-0673 (PA 101-0673) by Democrat Governor JB Pritzker on April 5, 2021. The Democrats have a majority in the Illinois state House and Senate and thus control the creation of state law. Why is it permissible for the Governor to sign a bill from the 101st General Assembly almost 3 months into the 102nd General Assembly? How many other states allow such an extended carry-over of legislation? The whole idea of a new General Assembly is newly elected lawmakers. How about when a new General Assembly is sworn… Read more »
Well, I guis that it comes down to jist about this…
Thar aint no diferince tween the 101st Genl Assembly ‘an the 102nd.
So WTF difference does it make?
Since violence is now a health care crisis, why not use the new Medicare funds for police and fire pensions as well? No doubt we’d see more duty disability full pensions for backaches at age 44, so that would bring everything back to a health-care pretext.
Never let an unfunded pension crisis go to waste.
Chief Thief Mayor Richard Daley sold off the parking meters for half of its value and that money was supposed to go towards the pension crisis, didn’t happen. Skyway sold off and that money was going to be used to ease the pension crisis, nope, didnt happen. Yet Daley’s chief of staff is now an executive in the parking company and Daley’s law firm associates represent the same company, hmmmmm.
First AFSCME, then SEIU, and now Chicago Firefighters.
Give Governor Tax Cheat credit for predicability.
Waddles up to a microphone, and tells one-n-all that we’re confronted with a really bad situation, for which he has no solution other than more taxes-n-borrowing on top of too much taxes-n-borrowing already, so he’s going to sign off on yet another deal that makes public employee unions happy, and the problem worse.
Guess I’ll wander over to the Capital Fax Slog for reassurance that it’s actually rain splattering on my head….
Governor Pritzker’s plan to fully fund pensions is nowhere to be found which means taxpayers pick up 100% of the pension interest to finance the underfunded pensions.
Same old story.
Legislative benefit hikes, which are then “protected” by the State Constitution.
The Illinois Pension Scam aka state sponsored Ponzi scheme.
The age of decadence in the life cycle of an empire.
https://www.ai-cio.com/news/study-suggests-no-imminent-public-pension-crisis/
James – help me out here. How does this piece relate to Illinois, which is a terrific outlier in terms of pension exposure? Or are you just letting us know of this article?
My goal was the latter of your two options. Yes, IL seems to be an outlier to that thesis, doesn’t it?
The March 31, 2021 Chief Investment Officer article by Michael Katz references the following Brookings Institution document. Brookings Papers on Economic Activity (BPEA). BPEA Conference Drafts, March 25, 2021. The 82 page report itself is dated March 12, 2021. The Sustainability of State and Local Government Pensions: A Public Finance Approach. By Jamie Lenney, Bank of England; Byron Lutz, Federal Reserve Board of Governors; Finn Schüle, Brown University; and Louise Sheiner, Brookings Institution. The report includes three of the hundreds of pension plans in Illinois: Illinois Municipal (IMRF officially Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund). IMRF mostly covers municipalities and local units… Read more »
“Lightfoot told aldermen that the measure would create an “unfunded mandate” that would force them to make politically perilous decisions by raising property taxes by $12 to $14 per year for the owner of a home worth $250,000”
“As mayor, I have a responsibility to ensure a stable financial future for our city and this bill substantially undercuts those efforts.”
So do the right thing Lori and raise property taxes by $12 to $14 per year. No one will even notice such a small increase.
The pension fund has only 18% of required funding. $12 per year will not fix that. First rule when trying to get out of a hole – stop digging.
That has been going on far too long. PPF, you are incorrect because due to the increases that nobody will notice, property taxes have gone up by 20x in the last 10 years.
PPF – isn’t your view a little narrow? There is a laundry list of interests in Chicago with their hand out for more money than they get now. Property taxes are the most available sources of revenue to the City. Raising taxes for a singular purpose is hardly easy, and the pressure not to increase property taxes, especially with a significant shortfall on commercial properties looming, is immense. Property taxes need to go in the other direction.
Because you can never have enough unfunded pension liabilities….