INCOMPETENT CHICAGO AREA POLITICIANS DO NOT EVEN KNOW THAT $108 BILLION IS OWED FOR FUTURE PAYMENTS..DEMOCRATS AS USUAL

Cook taxpayers owe $108 billion, county Treasurer Pappas says: by: Greg Hinz

The average Chicago household now owes a staggering $63,525 to cover local government debt, according to Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas.

Suburbanites are deeply in the red, too, with the average household owing $32,901, according to the treasurer.

Among the biggest reasons: $25 billion in unfunded pension liability.

In comments after an appearance Tuesday before the Civic Federation, a watchdog group that has released somewhat similar numbers in recent years, Ms. Pappas said she was "stunned" to learn that county taxpayers on the whole owe more than $108 billion toward local debt.

The figures were derived from a recently passed debt disclosure law. Ms. Pappas said the numbers have never before been compiled in this fashion.

"This goes well beyond big cities," she said. "These fiscal problems permeate townships, villages, school districts, park districts, fire protection districts and more, and the taxpayers are on the hook."

Overall, she said, municipalities have $61 billion in debt. And educational districts, $20 billion. Cook County owes $18 billion, and various sanitary districts collectively owe $4.4 billion.

In some ways the problem is actually worse than it appears. Ms. Pappas' report does not include totals from 55 of the county's 553 local units of government, which failed to report their debt figures to her.

On pensions, only one-quarter of the Cook County government units involved have at least 80% of the assets on hand needed to pay expected retirement plans for public employees, she said. Most financial watchdogs say 80% or even 90% is appropriate.

State lawmakers last year adopted changes that will reduce pension liabilities over time, but only for new employees. A bill that would reduce benefits or increase payments for current workers failed to pass in the spring legislative session but may come up this fall.


James J. wrote:
It won't be long before the concept of a "mortgage payment" is replaced with a "pension payment" and people will flock to communities with a low "pension payment"... house payment will be small compared to the "pension tax".

Mark E. wrote:
My sources tell me the City will declare bankruptcy and restructure its obligations. There is no way the retirees are getting this money. If I was them I would get back to work quickly.

Lview G. wrote:
Yet more proof that liberals and unions = failure. Sadly, the incompetent politicians in Cook County never learn and keep spending and taxing and spending and taxing. The money trough is empty, very tough times ahead for this cesspool of a county.

Tim M. wrote:
Can we use this a reason to FINALLY END NEW PENSIONS, and severely restructure existing ones....or people can collect nothing. Take your pick.

Alec M. wrote:
Where was the press on this for all these years? Didn't anyone bother to look? Seems to me the Better Government Ass'n has been predicting this, though in less dire terms, for some time now. But no one picked up the story and tried to run with it.

Was the impending bankruptcy of government at all levels not considered an important story? Was the desire for 'happy talk' drowning out this kind of unhappy talk? Do editors just think their readers are dumb?

The press has some explaining to do here.

Robert S. wrote:
So the state apparently has $100bn+ of unfunded obligations and Cook County alone has over $100bn? Honestly, this is the most ridiculous thing I've seen in my life. The worst part is that aside from my usual anti-Union bias, there are good, honest union folk who have punched the clock and done a good job for their working lives and now they are going to get the rug pulled from under them right at the exact moment they are set to retire.

Let's be clear: there is no level of taxes and/or fees that can pay for this. None. So the only way this obligation can get cut is to cut benefits.

Vincent L. wrote:
Yet Cook County will keep letting the crooked democratic machine run it. What do these things have in common?
- State of Illinois
- Cook County
- Chicago
All have been under complete democratic control. The state being 12 YEARS of complete Dem control, and the other two have been for a generation. The sheep Dem voters have to at some point wake up

Rick K. wrote:
Gonna be a lot of old folks moving in with their kids!

What is the told unfunded liability for every unfunded program that has been promised by the unions. I have to believe the number is getting closer to 1 million dollars when you throw in the national debt and all other government promised programs. And that number is higher if you take out the 40% of Americans who pay no taxes.

Glad to see so many public employees joining the ranks for the private sector, get a real job.

Paul M. wrote:
Sooner or later the taxpayers of Illinois will wake up and elect leaders like Wisconsin did when they brought in Gov. Scott Walker. Only a few weeks ago the Democrats and Unions there were literally painting him as the devil. Now, every day Wisconsin citizens are seeing what a true fiscal savior he has become.
We Illinoisans are waiting too long to bring in someone like Walker to tackle the unbelievable and unsustainable feeding by Democrats and Unions at the public trough. Every day we wait means more money will escape from our pocketbooks and into the hands of the cronies.
It's $108 billion today. How bad will it be tomorrow?

Ben S. wrote:
Love the headline of this article.

Bankruptcy? I somehow doubt that. Chicago would be the laughing stock of the country if they did that and Rahm's not going to put up with that (I am by no means sticking up for him).