pensions

Illinois drowning in debt: $127 billion and counting

By Benjamin VanMetre
01/07/2014
Illinois is often used as the poster child for how not to run a state. Money-hungry politicians perpetuate the state’s spending problem with higher taxes and more borrowing. Meanwhile, the state’s tax base continues to erode as tapped-out families and businesses move to states with more opportunities and friendlier business environments. Illinois’ debt has grown...

TAGS: bonds, borrowing, debt, pensions

Michael Jordan’s $200K property tax bill can’t cover Highland Park’s No. 1 pensioner

By Hilary Gowins
12/23/2013
Michael Jordan may have paid $178,900 in property taxes on his Highland Park home in 2012. But his property taxes aren’t even enough to cover the annual pension of Highland Park’s highest-compensated retired Teachers’ Retirement System member. Linda Hanson, 66, is a former Highland Park Township High School District 113 superintendent who has been retired...

TAGS: Michael Jordan, pensions, property taxes, taxes

Illinois has 43% of the country’s public pension plans

By Brian Costin
12/11/2013
Illinois has 43 percent of the nation’s public pension plans, according to a 2012 study published by the Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability, or COGFA, conducted by Marquette Associates on local police and fire pensions in Illinois. According to publicly available data, there are 1,511 public pension plans in the United States. With 657...

TAGS: pensions

Pension bill’s accounting gimmicks ignore $6-$8B in debt

By Jonathan Ingram
12/10/2013
House Speaker Mike Madigan and proponents of the temporary pension “fix” enacted last week promised taxpayers that it would immediately reduce the state’s unfunded pension liability by about $20 billion. But despite these promises, the credit rating agencies have indicated that they would be waiting for actuarial analyses before making any decisions on how the new law...

TAGS: pensions

A principled stand against pension “fix”

By Matt Paprocki
12/04/2013
Lawmakers met in Springfield on Tuesday for a special session on pension reform. After an early morning committee hearing, a gathering of each of the four legislative caucuses and several hours of lengthy floor debates, a pension bill passed the House and Senate, and now awaits Gov. Pat Quinn’s signature. The Illinois Policy Institute adamantly...

TAGS: Brad Halbrook, Brian Stewart, Dale Righter, Dan Duffy, David Harris, David Luechtefeld, defined benefit plans, Dwight Kay, Jason Barickman, Jeanne Ives, Joe Sosnowski, Kyle McCarter, pensions, Senate Bill 1, Tom Cross, Tom Morrison

What the Detroit bankruptcy ruling means for Illinois

12/03/2013
Today U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Steven Rhodes ruled that “nothing distinguishes pension debt from any other debt” – and that Detroit’s pension debt can therefore be partially discharged in bankruptcy. What does that mean for Illinois, where huge unfunded pension liabilities threaten to render the state government and many local governments insolvent? If the courts...

TAGS: Detroit, Michigan, pensions

Why Illinois teachers should reject new pension deal

12/03/2013
Madigan’s new pension “fix” does nothing to address the problems with the current pension system. Here’s another reason why Illinois teachers should urge their legislators to vote “no”:  the new pension bill does nothing to address the unfair distribution of pensions under the Teachers’ Retirement System, or TRS. Amazingly, the pension a teacher in TRS...

TAGS: pensions

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Pathway to a Profession: How Apprenticeships Could Reshape Illinois’ Beauty Service Industry

Occupational licensing requirements present one of the steepest barriers to low-income Illinoisans starting careers in beauty services. Illinois requires anyone seeking to become a barber, cosmetologist, nail technician or hair braider to obtain a state license, essentially a permission slip to work. Unlike 45 other states, Illinois offers only one pathway to licensure for each...

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Diana Graham

Process for unionizing non-state workers raises red flags

By Paul Kersey
06/19/2014

CBS Chicago: Illinois’ highest-paid superintendent receives $400K per year to oversee 1,200 students

By Ted Dabrowski
05/02/2016