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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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I have a home in Rockford valued at $157K and I pay $6,900 in property taxes. We need a 1% hard cap on property like Homeowners Defense Association. Defendhomesowners.com is trying to do in DuPage county. This need to be statewide. Values here are still that of the late 1990’s to early 2000’s. Tax rate is 14.8362% on 1/3rd value. School dist 205 has 16 schools at or near the bottom in the state. Teachers all received raises as did the super and we have nothing to show for it but higher taxes and that is still not enough. Will… Read more »
Any pension “reform” by Pritzker will likely be band-aid reform that will hardly be felt by the IL taxpayer, but Pritzker will nevertheless declare victory. Instead, harsh reforms are needed so that the IL taxpayer finally gets some relief. How much more of a population decline does IL need to experience before that happens?