Nice to be Connected

Sometimes we think we went into the wrong career, but we have actual standards:

• Former Ald. Walter Burnett (27th Ward) will collect an annual city taxpayer-funded pension of $120,608 — and could also earn more than $310,000 at the same time as head of the Chicago Housing Authority, according to records obtained by WTTW News.

  Burnett, who represented parts of the West Side and the West Loop for 30 years on the Chicago City Council, retired July 31. During 2024, his final full year as an alderperson, Burnett earned $145,974, and accepted a 4.1% raise for 2025, bumping his final annual salary to $152,016, records show.

  Burnett will start receiving pension payments of $10,134 per month sometime in October, and they will continue for the rest of his life, according to records obtained by WTTW News from the Municipal Employees’ Annuity and Benefit Fund of Chicago.

He's pretty much doubling his income in retirement. 

We'll bet that the "Municipal Employees’ Annuity and Benefit Fund of Chicago" isn't one of the funds flirting with financial disaster for some reason.