Oak Lawn credit rating hits junk status amid skyrocketing pension costs

By Brad Weisenstein
01/07/2020
Massive increases in public safety pension contributions have failed to keep Oak Lawn’s credit from being downgraded to junk status. The Chicago suburb’s leaders are fighting cuts and tax increases, which are inevitable without pension reform in Springfield.

TAGS: credit rating, fire pensions, firefighter pensions, Illinois Department of Insurance, junk credit rating, Moody's Investor Service, municipal pensions, oak lawn, pension benefits, pension contributions, pension costs, pension crisis, pension debt, pension obligations, pension reform, pension spending, police pensions, public safety, public safety pensions

Chicago’s 2020 budget proposal was never truly balanced

By Adam Schuster, Bill Reveille
11/26/2019
Faced with the impossible task of balancing Chicago’s budget without pension reform, Mayor Lori Lightfoot is forced to partially rely on phantom cuts and revenues.

TAGS: 2020 Budget Forecast, bonds, budget, budget gap, CAFR: Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, Chicago, Chicago City Council, chicago city hall, constitutional amendment, CTA: Chicago Transit Authority, CTU: Chicago Teachers Union, deficit, emergency fee, fire pensions, homelessness, housing market, Illinois General Assembly, interest rates, library, Lori Lightfoot, lyft, pension contributions, pension crisis, pension debt, pension obligations, policy pensions, property taxes, public safety pensions, Rahm Emanuel, real estate, real estate transfer tax, surplus, tax hikes, tax increase, TIF: Tax Increment Financing, Uber, vacancies, zero-based budgeting

Illinois lawmakers pass pension sweeteners without knowing the cost

By Adam Schuster
11/20/2019
Illinois has nation’s worst pension debt. Maybe that’s because state lawmakers take a problem they aren’t sure exists, apply a solution they don’t know will work and never determine the cost.

TAGS: benefits, Civic Federation, fire pensions, firefighter pensions, IRS: Internal Revenue Service, Jason Barickman, municipal pensions, pension crisis, pension debt, pension reform, pensions, police pensions, public safety, public safety pensions, safe harbor, Social Security, task force, tier 1, tier 2

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Power in payments: Illinois can help unbanked residents, save money by adopting best practices in payment methods

Each year, tens of billions of dollars flow through Illinois state government.1 These flows all depend on methods of payment. In deciding on those payment methods, policymakers must consider a number of important factors, including security controls, cost effectiveness, accessibility, speed and allowance for choice. This report shows that by adopting best practices across all...

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Ifeoma Nkemdi

Policy lessons from Illinois’ exodus of people and money

By J. Scott Moody, Wendy Warcholik
07/07/2014

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

By Ted Dabrowski
05/02/2016