re: Chicago Mayor: city finances are at “a point of no return” & they need massive tax hikes

There are no negative consequences for normal people from doing this. Let the cities and states that are already gerrymandered to oblivion drown in the consequences of their policies.

It is always a great idea to run off your tax base.

Those plans are probably in even worse shape than reported. They're likely using unrealistic discount rates which understate the liability and they're also probably using fantasy expected return numbers. Illinois and California have hundreds of billions of unfunded pension liabilities.

Amazing that they found somebody worse than Beetlejuice.

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Amazing that they found somebody worse than Beetlejuice.

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better the devil you know than the devil you don't

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Illinois and California have hundreds of billions of unfunded pension liabilities.

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Chicago by itself has more pension liabilities than 43 states, while only having more population than 15 states

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Pritzker sign a law this week that 2 chicago pensions had to hike benefits.

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Don’t forget about what this clown in the mayor’s office pushed this just a few months ago:

CTU contract: Union's tentative agreement with CPS will cost $1.5 billion; how will the city pay?

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The Chicago Teachers Union shared some details of what their new tentative agreement with Chicago Public Schools contains, including what the district says is the largest raise for teachers in 13 years.

The total estimated cost of the contract is $1.5 billion over the next four years, and also does not include the $175 million pension payment reimbursement. The cost of year one is reportedly covered, but what about the rest?

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It solidifies the city's teachers' position as some of the highest paid in the country, with the average annual salary set to exceed $110,000 at the end of the 4-year deal.

Other parts of the deal include smaller class sized, support for veteran educators, more prep time for teachers and 90 new librarian positions to be added over the next three years.

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But how will the city pay for it, especially when the district remains in a structural deficit? Martinez pointed to Tax Increment Financing funds, which divert revenue from property taxes to promote public and private investment.

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Martinez said there's enough money for the contract's first year, but not for the $175 million pension payment for which CPS is reimbursing the city.

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The Civic Federation weighed in on the budget back-and-forth Tuesday.

"That's the million-dollar question — or rather, the hundreds-of-millions-of-dollars question," the Civic Federation sad in a statement. "As of now, we don't have any further insight into how CPS plans to pay for the contract beyond the first year."

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Mayor Brandon Johnson was asked about that $175 million pension payment.

"The contract is paid for by a separate entity of government, the Chicago Public Schools. And that, in part, is the responsibility of the CEO to be able to come up with mechanisms to be able to satisfy that," said Mayor Johnson.

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Martinez's suggestion to cover the pension payment is a tax levy.

"There is a current tax levy the city has- it's part of your water tax bill and a few other bills. They have not raised it. They could raise it," he said.

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Have you been operating a "sanctuary city" Mayor Johnston?

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State test scores are in for Chicago Public Schools, and fewer than 1-in-3 students could read and fewer than 1-in-5 do math at their elementary grade level in 2024.

It was worse for the district’s 11th graders: fewer than 1 in 4 could read and math scores dropped nearly a percentage point from 2023.

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Old enough to drive, cant read a stop sign

Truly unbelievable, job well done

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average annual salary set to exceed $110,000

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Only 22% of 11th graders in Chicago are able to read at grade level and only 18% could perform math at their grade level.

Sounds like the teachers need a healthy raise.