Senate President John Cullerton set to collect $2M pension

By Austin Berg

11/27/2019

Due to a pension sweetener available only to veteran Illinois lawmakers, Cullerton’s annual pension will soon be more than he ever made from his Statehouse salary.

TAGS: Chicago, Emil Jones, Illinois, Illinois General Assembly, Illinois Senate, John Cullerton, Mike Madigan, pension benefits, pension costs, pension crisis, pension debt, pension reform, retirement, senate president, SERS: State Employee Retirement System, six-figure, Springfield, tax hikes, teacher salaries, TRS: Teachers’ Retirement System

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

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

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Ifeoma Nkemdi

Policy lessons from Illinois’ exodus of people and money

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