Quinn Signs Pension "Reform"

Covering two of the city pension plans:

• Chicago property owners got a one-year reprieve Monday after Gov. Pat Quinn put aside his political differences with the mayor and signed a Chicago pension reform bill.
  
  The governor asked Mayor Rahm Emanuel to steer clear of a property tax increase and find other revenues to fund the city's five-year, $250 million pension obligation.
  
  Emanuel obliged — at least temporarily.
  
  In an interview with the Chicago Sun-Times hours after the bill signing, Emanuel said he has “taken property taxes off the table for the first year,” thanks to a telephone tax increase he called “another tool in our tool box that gives us additional ways to address our obligations.”
  
  The mayor said the additional year would “give us the time to identify other types of resources and revenues” to avoid property tax increases in years two through five. But, he made no promises beyond Year One.

And the initial changes:

• The phone tax bill gave Quinn political cover.
  
  It freed him to sign the bill that increases employee contributions by 29 percent and reduces employee benefits to save the Municipal Employees and Laborers pension funds without wearing the political jacket for a pre-election property tax increase.

The inevitable lawsuit is already underway:

• A coalition of unions says it plans to file a lawsuit challenging the newly-signed law aimed at overhauling two of Chicago's pension systems.
  
  We Are one Chicago is a group of unions that has also challenged the state's pension overhaul. In a statement Monday, the group says the plan addressing laborer and municipal employee pensions is unfair and unconstitutional.

Rahm is rapidly running out of time for the state mandated $600 million balloon pension payment due this fiscal year. We have a feeling that he's going to use that requirement to paint First Responders as solely responsible for the upcoming tax hikes.