Chicago Mayor Richard Daley is mad. He is complaining about a law that Illinois Governor Pat Quinn signed last week. The new law requires Chicago to have the pensions for its public safety employees funded at the 90% level by 2035. And this is making Mayor Daley mad. He says it will require a 60% in Chicago’s property-tax levy.
I can see why Mayor Daley is upset. That would be a huge increase in property taxes. And it’s not like Mayor Daley has had anything to do with the underfunding. It’s not like he has been mayor for the last 22 years while the underfunding got worse and worse. It’s not like he could have done anything in the ‘90s or the 2000s to try to address the problem earlier. It’s not like he has had anything to do with the fact that worker contributions for their pensions have not increased in 34 years (or at least the last 22 of them).
Oh, wait. He could have done something about this situation. He’s been mayor since 1989. He knew what the problem was. He wasn’t surprised by what happened – other than the fact the State of Illinois is actually trying to force cities to pay for the pension promises they make.
This is actually a very simple situation. You promise pensions. You pay for pensions. Very simple. But Mayor Daley doesn’t like it. He’d actually have to pay for his own promises.
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