By continuing practices such as automatic raises and taxpayer-subsidized platinum health insurance, along with a new $2,500 bonus, the AFSCME contract will transfer more than $3.6 billion in additional compensation from taxpayers to state workers.
Persistent budget deficits, enormous and growing pension obligations, a high debt burden and labor contract negotiations all await Lori Lightfoot as she settles into office.
The New Jersey Senate president is proposing solutions to the state’s pension problem. Illinois is worse off, but state leaders remain silent on reforms.
A provision included in Illinois’ previous budget aimed to protect state taxpayers from end-of-career salary spiking in local school districts. The budget proposal en route to Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s desk would repeal that protection.
Financial stress testing shows Illinois and New Jersey are the most unprepared for the next recession. Both states lack sufficient rainy day funds and struggle with large pension debt.
Each Chicago taxpayer is on the hook for $119,110 worth of unfunded state, city, county and other local government debt. Many of the pensions driving those debts become Lori Lightfoot’s problem on Monday.
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.