City pension contributions are set to spike by $1 billion over just four years. Taxpayers cannot afford the entire burden of fixing city finances.
East St. Louis is short $9.5 million between a budget deficit and back payments owed to its fire and police pensions. As a result, city leaders are closing a firehouse and laying off nine firefighters.
Consolidating downstate and suburban police and fire pension systems is a start, but both fixes and Illinois’ pension problems go much deeper.
East St. Louis already faces a $2.2 million state funding diversion for its firefighters pension fund. Now the police pension board is demanding $1.79 million the city owes that fund.
A new report shows Illinois’ unfunded pension debt liability remained highest in the nation despite the 2017 income tax hike.
The city of Peoria is adding a new fee to residents’ property tax bills to help shore up the city’s public safety pensions.
Bailouts reward bad behavior. Reform rewards residents. Lawmakers should bend toward the latter.
The southwestern Illinois city faces high crime and poverty rates, as well as a $5.5 million budget deficit. Now, $2.2 million owed to its firefighters pension threatens to halt the flow of state funds.
The FBI detailed sex, drugs and corruption involving former Chicago Ald. Daniel Solis, but he is still receiving a nearly $95,000 public pension after cooperating with their probe.
The city of Springfield needs nearly $270 million more in revenue to meet the required contributions to its pension funds for retired police officers and firefighters.
Bailing out local governments’ underwater pension funds would exacerbate Illinois’ pension debt, inviting tax hikes on middle class Illinoisans.
Public pensions are already eating away Illinois government services, increasing by more than 500% during the past 20 years as spending on core services including child protection, state police and college money for poor students has dropped by nearly one-third since 2000. At the same time the clock is running out on the state’s public...
Growing pension costs for retired educators are quickly crowding the classroom out of Illinois budgets.
Illinois counties are hiring debt collectors to track down people who may owe money for older, unpaid traffic tickets. One woman accused of owing money would have been just 14 when the ticket was issued.