Planned Destruction?
We're having a difficult time interpreting this any other way:
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker announced late Friday afternoon that he signed the Chicago pension sweetener bill.
This is one of the most financially reckless decisions in modern Illinois history, on par with Mayor Richard M. Daley’s parking meter deal.
Chicagoans deserve to know the truth about why Pritzker did it. And that may require going to court. More on that in a bit.
What happens now?
The governor’s timing could not have been worse.
The city already faces a $1.2 billion budget deficit, the Chicago Transit Authority is staring down a fiscal cliff, and Chicago Public Schools is in financial freefall.
The bill adds more than $11 billion in unfunded liabilities to two of the worst-funded pension systems in the entire country: Chicago police and fire. Those funds will fall to 18% funded, speeding up a march toward insolvency. The bill will also almost certainly trigger a downgrade for Chicago’s credit rating, returning the city to “junk” status.
There's a lot to unwrap here, but adding $11 billion in unfunded liabilities to a pension fund already staggering into a sea of red ink is reckless in the extreme. Fata$$ and Springfield aren't offering any assistance to Chicago, just stacking on the future insolvency.
Any word from the unions yet about what this all means? And don't be tooting the benefits today if the whole thing goes belly up tomorrow.
And Conehead better start looking at cutting waste, redundancy and closing under-utilized schools as a first step toward fiscal sanity.
UPDATE: Here's another article about things.
Labels: money questions
posted by SCC at 12:01 AM
98 Comments:
Vote NO on incompetent JB Pritzker for any office he runs.
Downtown stores are at a 30% vacancy rate. More plan to leave.
Chicago is burdened by a large pension debt of $48 billion, exceeding that of most other states.
A significant portion of property taxes (over 80%) is allocated to pension debt payments.
The city faces a forecasted budget shortfall of $538 million for 2024.
This fiscal strain leads to the lowest credit rating among large US cities and high borrowing costs.
Massive debt and pension liabilities consume nearly half of Chicago's tax revenue, limiting funds for economic development and city services.
From July 2021 to July 2022, Cook County experienced a greater population loss than any other county in the nation except Los Angeles County, with 94,344 people leaving. Chicago's population declined by 32,990 residents during the same period.
https://chicago.suntimes.com/small-business/2025/07/31/family-owned-hanigs-footwear-closing-50-years-magnificent-mile
More businesses running out of downtown.
This is just the appetizer. Soon all the other unions will demand similar "sweetners".
And Conehead better start looking at cutting waste, redundancy and closing under-utilized schools as a first step toward fiscal sanity.
He ain't got time for all that white bread $hit, he's got the blessed madonna drag shows to attend.
Better put as much as you can into deferred comp.
Don't worry,.....the casinos will fund this.
The gold braid pension is being protected with a higher cap. Thankfully the merits will have enough to enjoy retirement.
Just remember the CPD pension comes first and your pension is guaranteed by state law. I’m not saying how it will be paid for.
What is taking the Feds so long? FatAss is under investigation for corruption!
He will go down just like Ryan, Burke and a hundred crooked Chicago pols who
thought they were untouchable!
Detroit, here we come!
How does one collect when the balance is zero it ain’t rocket science
The pension does not go into the red. If the fund(s) go to 0 then it comes out of the city budget. Read the law.
Mmm, did somebody say sweetener 🤔
Gimme that bill, I’ll sign anything I can eat
He wants Johnson out so he can back and control the next incompetent bustout.Just remember "We don't want anybody nobody sent"
Yeah,who new gang bangers and yutes could have such a devastating effect?
Correct, an empty promise is still a promise.
next step.....no disability pensions. EVERYONE needs to answer phones at callback while wearing a headset and utilizing a X-Chair.
if Chicago's south and west sides were not so crappy we would have have a population of 5M not 3M. Thanks shitheads.
And after that, he had time to welcome Democrats running from Texas. What a porker!
Currently Illinois Law ( Public Act 88-0593, also known as the " 1995 Pension Funding Law", or " Edgar Ramp") requires the state's pension systems to reach a 90% funded level by 2045.
This is great news made our pension much better!! Yeah!
Yea, just keep telling yourself that
JCAT is too dumb to realize that his support for this will one day kill the pension. JCAT just says, it’s the cities fault they didn’t uphold their end of the bargain. Anything to say you got a “win” then not be concerned that this may be strategic by martwick and pritzker to have our pension fund tank in the future so it can privatize and turn into a 401k system like Detroit. And in JCATs Friday update he was all over thanking pritzker for signing it.
I think Conehead, as well as JB Lizzo and the state Democrats, should have the title "Hopelessly Inept" permanently affixed to their names.
Hahaha!! You mean the same “state law” that gets rewritten every day? This is Illinois man!! They’ll do as they see fit. Fuckin crooks!!
If the money isn't there, we're not getting a penny. It's time to wake up to the realization that we're in big trouble. Not just this city, most big cities. Changes to the pension system should have happened a long time ago to save it.
The people are leaving! Bring in more illegals!!!
Is anyone else worried that our pension is in the hands of Illinois democrats who have yet to solve a problem ever? They have kicked the can down the road on everything letting future generations bear the burden for their incompetency. They leave office with nothing but scorched earth behind them and yet raise their hands in victory touting their virtue signaling progressive agendas.
The voters need to surprise them by not automatically reeelecting them to multiple terms.
Don't forget the city owes CPD officers about 195 million and what will they owe in back pay to firefighters after four plus years without a contract?
start saving the pension by eliminating gold braid pensions no one even mentions this Im sure the rank and file who outnumbers the exempt will be overwhelming in favor of it legalized stealing
...and the lottery will pay for education
...and the tollways will be free when the bonds are paid off
Perhaps JB Pritzker & his Epstein-buddy cousin Tom will kindly offer to fund it from their family's own bottomless accounts of inherited wealth
Deferred compensation is under the City of Chicago’s umbrella. Who’s going to stop the city from putting their hand in the cookie jar and pissing away your contributions?
You can thank the FOP for having a hand with their cronies having this dooms day legislation passed.
Don’t worry you’ll have your deferred compensation to fall back on. Haha
This bill only effects the Tier 2 people. Does anyone know if any of the exempts are Tier 2 people?
What’s this guaranteed BS. Nothing is guaranteed. State laws can be changed and are all the time.
Remember what Rostenkowski did with S.S.
on a wing & a prayer
Good luck collecting if the city goes belly up.
If you actually read the law it’s not that big of a difference. Instead of last 8 years determine pension it’s last 5 now for tier 2. I hate pritzker as much as anybody but this is a do nothing bill.
Does the state guarantee start when you start paying into the fund or when you start to receive it?Knowing might help with when to pull a early retirement.Thanks
There is no way around it the pension system must be bankrupted. Sorry, I know someone in administration earns more then cops, works from home several days a week (ha,ha, out shopping, lunching)
You will never hear a Democrat say "cutting waste".
Now, kees me you fool!!!!
This is just acceleration to inevitable bankruptcy of the city. Even if leadership all banded together to cut and reallocate it would be a heavy if not impossible lift. That is the best case scenario and we are far from that with every leader in the city with their heads deep in their own asses. Once it hits critical mass there will be not going back and the decline will be swift and ugly. Welcome to Detroit. For those "that can never happen here" people...wake up.
I'm a little confused. I thought tier II couldn't retire until 25 years on. That puts the earliest any Tier II collect 2035. The article says it will start costing more in 2027. I don't think 17 years on the job gets you a pension.
"I’m not saying how it will be paid for." Exactly. As the exodus from the city and state continues that will be the question. The only conclusion one can reach based on the decisions of city and state leadership is that they want this collapse. As for voting for better leadership....will not happen....the election of BJ should have proved that.
While I agree with the sentiment, Hanig’s hasn't really kept up with the times. Tourists aren’t scrambling to go to Hanig’s. I can assure you nobody was looting a Hanig’s. It was a business dependent on professional office workers and people who live in fancy condos downtown. Culture and taste change. Refined workwear and casual wear struggle. NYC, formerly a fashion Capitol, is struggling to keep fashionable. Face it, most of us are slobs in our appearance now.
About $480 million was budgeted by the city, county, and state in 2024 for illegals. Chicago’s share was about $220 million
The chef's of chicaneries brew their classic stews.
A bit of sweetness added to the churning rancidities of their bubbling pots of thick, nasty deceptions' soups, beckoning the fools who line up for their bowls of gruel.
They will gladly not pay you tuesday for you gulping down their scamburgers today.
Buy there’s plenty of money for criminal illegal aliens.
Fuck You, Pay US !!!
This will seal fatboys fate next election
And all law is backed by the trustworthiness of those who possess the authority to decide what the end result will be.
This is a preamble to 2 things. The obvious JB presidential run in 28 and a really great excuse for Illinois to tax tips and overtime negating the federal tips and overtime tax relief.
Until the city declares bankruptcy. When a city goes BK the pension obligations just is another unsecured creditor.
They have the money. They just don’t want the police to get it. When 15000 illegals showed up they had all kinds of money to give away. Crying poor is a lie. I could save the millions in 3 minutes. We only need 22 alderman. Don’t need 45 exempts at cpd. Those two cuts alone saves millions in salary and spending.
explain to everyone how is the pension guaranteed by State Law? Is the state going to pay our pension if it goes under? How is the pension going to be paid if the fund goes bankrupt? Is the city going to pay 100% of our pension if the fund goes bankrupt? Maybe the new Dept Chief Financial Officer can explain this?
"The Governor...expects the city of Chicago to implement these changes with careful planning and fiscal discipline."
Planning and discipline? From a DemonRat? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
You're more likely to create cold fusion with a Coke can and a cardboard box.
Other Unions pension funds are fully funded.
FOP released a video just recently talking about this.
There are other issues that would come up in the future with the Tier 2 which is the reason why the governor signed off of this bill. Tier 2, before this bill, would be deminished to being less than what social security would be which is a violation of the "safe harbor provision". This would force the city to backpay on social security for many years along with interest owed. So pick your poison...
I believe this next LT test will be the first test tier 2 will people, and folks, will be eligible to take
When have you ever seen the Democrats solve a problem. They are great at inventing them but never fixed any. If they solved a problem, the money game would shut down and they can't have that. Our pension?? A crap shoot at best. Don't kid yourself, these Fuckheads don't care and see it as punishment for being the police.
Our pension money was given out to the likes of Police murder Jackie Wilson and every other city made millionaire by way of the Innocence Project and that unconstitutional Torture Commission and the Cook County States Attorney's office. Overturning a legal decision by a Judge or jury and the Appellate Courts by some anti-police gaggle of goofs is shit in our faces. Crickets are what I heard, may a bit of sabre rattling, but no Tom Fitton in Illinois. Where were the local states attorneys and police organizations??
Where was the Illinois Supreme Court?? The handwriting has been on the wall for decades.
When Detroit went bankrupt police/fire pensions were not taken away. There was however a reduction in COLA benefits going forward. The general city workers took a 4.5% reduction in pension benefits.
Defereed comp is run by an entirely different out of state entity....
Dont worry, they can always raise property taxes to pay for the pensions...
That has always been their answers to fund everything else...
They will have that pesky little law changed by then...
Theres no such thing as waste to a democrat.
Pritzker seems like he’s against gerrymandering congressional districts in Texas. He’s standing with the Texas democrats who came here to stall the vote on Texas gerrymandering. If he feels so strong about it, why doesn’t he put Chuy Garcia’s congressional district back to normal?
How much money did Chicago give to illegals the last four years. This tells me Chicago has plenty of cash on hand. Don’t blame the workers that earned a pension. Blame politicians for giving free money and benefits to them.Sorry Hater. Let’s start cutting all the crime prevention gang members/Brandons soldiers.
Detroit pensioners are still collecting.Start cutting the budget and quit whining about pensions.
Another broadside financial torpedo into the ass of Conehead and his Broken City by the Springfield Pigster.
The phrase is don't send nobody, nobody knows
They needed to make the changes because the City calculated Tier 2 members bi monthly payments incorrectly. They were paying the same as Tier 1 members. Therefore they needed to increase Tier 2 benefits vs eventually be sued and then having to pay the increased amount post lawsuit. Tier 1 members get nothing out of this bill ow the city only has to come up with the funding every year and not worry about a lawsuit.
This had to be done or it was a violation of federal law “safe harbor” so stop with the doom and gloom
Gov Lardass will cut anything but the funding for the buffet lunches at the Illinois capitol...as long as it doesn't affect the waistline, er..I mean bottom line.
This bill only effects the Tier 2 people. Does anyone know if any of the exempts are Tier 2 people?
. . . . . . . . . .
ALL future exempts who were hired after 01 January 2011 are Tier 2.
There are a few lieutenants who are in Tier 2 with 14 years OTJ.
The first Tier 2 exempt hack will be made anytime now.
Anyone ever talk to a Detroit cop from the ‘70s & ‘80s about how their Pension Funding turned out?
No it won’t. The vote of 10,000 cops is a drop in the bucket.
Joe gave them that, Trump said no...
Yeah, because billionaires have a habit of going to prison !
No way the Feds let Chicago go under. It would cause a major Market meltdown. Detroit is not Chicago and was never close. I'm not defending the idiots running the city, I'm saying the fed will grab the wheel before conehead drives off the cliff.
I though democrats cared about the unions and the working class? FUCK EVERYONE WHO VOTED FOR THESE ASSHOLES
Speaking of the Pension Fund, there are many people on disability who are beyond capable of answering a fucking telephone and typing a two line, half ass report. Why would the Fund allow so many able bodied people to leach off of the Fund when they could be working light duty or in another capacity? This seems to be a topic that would require some discussion with the Department in order to get people back to work instead of lounging around collecting our Pension money. We all know who deserves to be at home due to their injuries and who needs to get back to work. Anyone who doesn't agree with this post is definitely one of the leaches, related to one or is trying to become one.
Oh what a big man you are
I think in this case cutting waste and waist are interchangeable.
How about EVERYONE retires with a PO pension! You get promoted you make that extra pay,once u retire you get a PO pension! If you can’t survive on a PO’s pension after 29 years, you did something wrong!
fIt might be law, but the City doesnt follow the laws!!!
Tier 2 members took the job. They didn’t have to. That’s the deal they signed up for. This is wrong.
They need to raise the contribution both ours and theirs
I’m sure they’ll change that to 2085
So sounds like thr city's problem and not the pension funds problem. Now this is the pension funds problem. Why create the tier 2 then anyways? It seems like it was well thought out.
Of the schools were better, like Frankfort or naperville, then people would move back in droves. But, this shit won't change.
It all started with that short jaggoff Daley and his cronies....stole our money and refused to put in what we work so hard for. We know what we signed up for when we took the job, no holidays time away from family the stress of work and the chance that we might get seriously injured or killed just so we can collect a pension when we put our time in. It's an absolute shame that that scammer gets away Scott free while robbing our pensions with his buddies and nothing has ever happened to him or them. If you want to start with blame start with him. Everyone after that is also responsible because they have done nothing also but it starts with that short big headed midget
Fuck you. I didn’t sign up to get less than social security.
Governor Fatstone wants to burn up the pension fast as possible, to put retirees into dependence upon his Communist Agenda.
Close the Board of Ed facilities and give the money to the retired coppers.
Retired city worker in the municipal pension fund. We are funded between 18 and 20 percent also. That dyslexic little prick Daley indeed did this with his pension holidays to fund navy spear and the bears spaceship on the lake along with his gay little flower boxes. In approximately 1997 the municipal fund was 96 percent funded. Hey we'll give it back later, gimme dat. Presidence set, the next midget stole from the fund,followed by the big dick lgbtq midget did same. They're all gone, pensions and swag in hand with full details of armed valets and our pensions are broke. And yet most of chicago crys out for a Democrat to save them from the orange man bad. I thought we lived in the information age ? How can people be so stupid ?
I’m good with that.
Post a Comment
<< Home