The Chicago suburb is facing severe fiscal challenges brought about by its unsustainable pension burden and $75 million in debt – a trend that has become too common among Illinois municipalities.
Rising pension costs in Illinois’ fifth-largest city are pushing Rockford near the edge of a fiscal cliff – a fate that officials are looking to reverse with a series of steep public service cuts.
In an effort to close a $7.4 million shortfall, the city of Evanston’s proposed budget for the coming fiscal year includes police and fire cuts along with a string of tax hikes – highlighting the need to trim government waste and push for structural reform in Springfield.
Despite claims from some state lawmakers that the fiscal year 2019 budget is balanced, official reports to bond buyers admit a deficit of more than $1 billion.
The 2017 permanent income tax hike took $732 from the median Illinois household, roughly the same as the $737 that will be returned to state workers who were previously forced to pay “fair share” fees to government unions.
Alton residents are paying for two overlapping units of government – the city of Alton and Alton Township. But voters will soon have the chance to slash costs by dissolving the city’s redundant township.
Chicago’s $1.15 billion projected budget gap is the latest in a decades-long string of structural deficits. Making Chicago’s high taxes worse is not the solution.