This column summarizes the history and present situation of Illinois’ worst-in-the-nation public employee pension funding crisis. It cites the Civic Federation’s recent Pension Primer as a simple visual guide to help understand the basics of public employee pensions in Illinois.
This segment reports on recent proposals for a casino in the City of Chicago intended to generate revenue for the City, primarily to pay down unfunded pension liabilities. The Civic Federation said it is unclear how much revenue a new casino could generate, but it is unlikely it would be enough to solve the City’s financial problems.
An Illinois Supreme Court decision overturning legislation to reduce the State’s massive pension costs will add to the difficulty of creating a balanced operating budget for the year that begins on July 1, 2015. The high court struck down the law on May 8, ruling that it violated the Illinois Constitution by cutting benefits for retirees and employees. The 2013 legislation reduced annual benefit…
Urges General Assembly to Identify Alternate Plan for Closing $6.2 Billion Budget Gap In a new report released today, the Civic Federation’s Institute for Illinois’ Fiscal Sustainability opposes Governor Rauner’s recommended budget for FY2016 because it relies heavily on projected savings that do not appear to be achievable or prudent in light of the State of Illinois’ obligations and long-term…
The Civic Federation opposes Governor Bruce Rauner’s recommended budget for FY2016 because it relies heavily on projected savings that do not appear to be achievable or prudent in light of the State of Illinois’ obligations and long-term policy objectives. Savings of $2.2 billion related to a new pension reform proposal are assumed to be realized in the budget, even though this proposal has not…
This article examines the options available to Chicago Public Schools as it faces a $1 billion budget shortfall next year with little to no reserve funds. As discussed in the article, the Civic Federation does not support allowing municipalities direct access to bankruptcy. Instead, the Civic Federation’s Pension Committee has proposed the creation of a Local Government Protection Authority, an…
This week the Civic Federation released a set of two primers on public employee pensions in the State of Illinois. The primary document, A Plain English Guide to Public Employee Pensions in the State of Illinois, answers ten basic questions about Illinois pensions: What is a public pension? Who has defined benefit and defined contribution pensions? How many public pension plans are there in…
Rhode Island recently reached a potential settlement agreement with most employee and retiree groups involved in litigation against its 2011 landmark pension reforms. The details of the agreement became available on April 13, 2015 through a court filing that was one of several steps necessary for the settlement to be finalized. The settlement averts a trial that had been scheduled to start later…
This article discusses a warning by credit rating agency S&P that the City of Chicago could face further credit rating downgrades this year without the enactment of substantial pension reform legislation. The Civic Federation is cited on the steep projected increase in 2015 for the City's required contribution to its Police and Fire Pension Funds.
This article looks at both mayoral candidates’ proposals for addressing the City of Chicago’s financial challenges, which include severely underfunded pension funds, a high debt level and Chicago Public Schools’ $1 billion deficit. The Civic Federation said that even after pension fund reforms it is hard to see how these liabilities could be fully addressed without future property tax increases.
