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By Kristin Crowley A city in crisis. That’s how one research group describes Rockford because of its pension problems. It gives the city a critical rating, and warns taxpayers aren’t the only ones feeling the impact. “A lot of attention is being put on Chicago because Chicago is the super dangerous pension system in the...
Peoria, Decatur and Bloomington have some of the worst funded public pension systems in the state PEORIA (Feb. 27, 2014) – State lawmakers spent the last few years debating state-level public pension reform in the capital, but a new study released by the Illinois Policy Institute suggests attention should now be turned to local...
Rockford has more government retirees collecting benefits than active public employees, taxpayers picking up the tab ROCKFORD (Feb. 27, 2014) – State lawmakers spent the last few years debating state-level public pension reform in the capital, but a new study released by the Illinois Policy Institute suggests attention should turn to local government pensions, such...
by Patrick Gleason When a national soda and snack food tax went into effect in Mexico last month, it gave hope to those looking to revive efforts to impose such levies north of the Rio Grande. While there have been repeated attempts in recent years to pass punitive soft drink taxes in the U.S. at the national, state,...
by Naomi Lopez Bauman The Obama administration announced last week another one-year delay of the Affordable Care Act’s employer mandate for some firms. This comes on the heels of the Congressional Budget Office’s “The Budget and Economic Outlook: 2014 to 2024,” which contains the now infamous analysis that the ACA will reduce work by a...
WGN covered a new report showing the how Illinois’ municipal pension systems are destroying city budgets, pushing property taxes higher and forcing cuts in local services. Read the report here. by Julian Crews It’s not just the state of Illinois as a whole that’s dealing with a huge, pension problem. Municipal pension systems are also in...
Springfield spends 100 percent of its property taxes on police, fire and city pensions State lawmakers spent the last few years debating state-level government pension reform in the capital, but a new study released by the Illinois Policy Institute suggests they should now turn their attention to pensions for the city of Springfield itself. Researchers...
Report analyzes outcomes of Wisconsin’s landmark labor laws, shows how three years later Wisconsin is prospering while IL continues to falter Three years ago, Wisconsin and Illinois both faced fiscal crises. Wisconsin had a budget shortfall of $3.6 billion, while Illinois had a backlog of $8 billion in unpaid bills. To combat their crises, the...