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Posted on 09/19/2025 6:19:30 AM PDT by delta7
“Bloomberg @business
Chicago is stepping in to lend cash to its underfunded pensions so they have enough money to avoid asset sales to cover retirement checks as they wait for property taxes to come in after a computer issue delayed collections.”
Chicago’s money trees are shedding their autumn layers with a new multi-million dollar government payout package for underfunded public pensions. City officials approved a short-term bailout of the Firemen’s Annuity & Benefit Fund to the tune of $28 million to avoid forced asset sales. That is merely the tip of the iceberg, as Chicago’s pension debt has risen 15% over the past five years to an utterly unsustainable $36 billion.
Property taxes currently fund 80% of the city’s pension fund, but are not enough to sufficiently meet payouts. The average pension fund ideally has a funding level of around 70%, and funding beneath 40% is considered nearly insolvent. In Chicago, the top four public pension funds (fire, police, municipal, and laborers), along with the teachers’ pension fund, have a backing ratio between 24% to 43%, with the combined debt now exceeding $53 billion—all of Chicago’s public pension funds have gone bust. Reform measures have been bypassed for years to the point of no return.
Chicago’s pension system carries a debt larger than that of 44 states. Seven Chicago-area pension funds are among the top 10 worst-funded plans in the country. The city already allocates up to 20% of its annual budget toward pensions. Taxpayers are expected to meet all shortfalls, but again, the current level of taxation is not enough to cover the gap.
Lawmakers claim there was a mere system error. Property tax bills were expected to be sent out in June, but will not reach taxpayers until October. The $28 million is intended to act as a temporary band-aid, but the city is almost guaranteed to ask for additional loans and bailouts because the frozen funds are NOT the problem. These funds are a Ponzi scheme, robbing Peter to pay Paul, but the jig is up.
Chicago
Lawmakers recently passed a bill to provide additional pay to Chicago’s retired firefighters and police officers. Politicians are permitted to pass bills to secure votes without actually having a plan in place. The city’s pension bill will rise to $2.76 billion by 2026. There is no money for other public services. Chicago has lost its ability to remain competitive as capital is fleeing increased levies.
Chicago’s overall property tax levy more than doubled in a decade, expanding from $860 million in 2014 to $1.77 billion in 2024. Pension costs directly have risen sixfold over that ten-year span from $478 million in 2014 to $2.75 billion in 2024. The city has redirected every penny collected from property taxes since 2014 into these failing funds, but the pension obligation has surpassed 160% of the annual property tax revenue.
The blame falls on the people rather than the failed politicians. Mayor Brandon Johnson proposed increasing property taxes by $300 million for the current fiscal year, which would mark the largest spike in property taxes in the city’s history. The measure was shot down by the City Council who instead plans to generate $165.5 million with additional taxes and fees in other domains.
In 2021, Mayor Lori Lightfoot demanded a $93.9 million increase in property taxes. Johnson actually campaigned against that measure, and Lightfoot was pressured to drop the tax hike to $42.7 million in 2023. Johnson was elected over Lightfoot for pretending to care about constituents and promising to lower tax burdens.
Their approach has failed. 41% of property taxes were injected into these broken pension funds in 2014 and increased to 80% in 2024. Property taxes more than doubled in that timeframe, but it is nowhere near enough to solve this crisis. Politicians will continue to rob the people with excessive levies to maintain the Ponzi scheme for as long as possible. It is only a matter of time before the city is unable to pay retirees.
The Illinois Constitution does not permit cities to file for Chapter 9 bankruptcy. The state has historically blocked any cuts to payouts regardless of liquidity. The city may one day be forced to beg for a federal bailout, which would force all Americans to pay for decades of reckless mismanagement by financially illiterate politicians.
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I think there needs to be an investigation into how the city got into this position in the first place. How did funds earmarked for pensions end up being spent...and by whom?
All those in Blue states.....
PAY VERY CLOSE ATTENTION. When the State fails financially because of the grift, the State employees pensions evaporate.
The last treasury steal is from the ‘little people’ that supported the Democrats, when they leave them with no pensions. Just like Joe Biden tried to bankrupt the Government and destroy Social Security with illegals.
No federal funds to bail them out. Let the state, city and public sector workers eat the loss. Their irresponsible circus, their monkeys.
When you think of Chicago you immediately think about crime, but the Democrats have been f-ing a lot of other things too. It’s the same thing as has been going on in Iran. The imam’s have been obsessed with destroying the infidels that they neglected to take care of the little things, like supplying water to their country. Whoops! Maybe providing water isn’t such a little thing after all.
I’ve always thought that it would be easier to change the Illinois constitution than to pay off all the accumulated pension obligations.
The crash will be within the next 5 years or economic downturn.
I feel for the pensioners, but they probably voted Dem.
New York State is in trouble for the next couple of decades. Their Tier 1 pension was incredibly generous.
“ The Illinois Constitution does not permit cities to file for Chapter 9 bankruptcy.”
Federal law controls bankruptcies. This would be a great test case for that.
L
Chicago is not alone in the mess, of course. But check out the California State Pensions, a system of theft at this point:
All pensions "21,535,311 records found – Page 1 of 430,707"This is the often-unseen mess boiling beneath the surface. Time to let things collapse, I'd say.
That almost never comes up in reports about public pension short-funding.
I think there needs to be an investigation into how the city got into this position in the first place
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You are funny. It started twenty years ago, and every attempt was overridden. From my sources ( relatives living there), the age of low interest rates and free money caused it.
The city kept taking loans to cover the imbalance. Borrow at .5 percent interest, then 1.5 percent, then 3, etc….now with high rates the Ponzi scheme is in collapse. Now, No banks or financial institutions will roll over the debt into any new loans.
They were insolvent years ago. All Ponzi schemes eventually end.” Exhibit A” for our federal government. The massive amount our Federal Reserve prints up and loans out will also fail….as we are witnessing ( we now pay over $1 trillion to the Federal Reserve in interest payments alone).
September 30th is nearing. We shall see.
No federal funds to bail them out. Let the state, city and public sector workers eat the loss.
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Fine and dandy. However a few major banks have been involved in the Ponzi scheme, they kept loaning money to the city to roll over the previous unpaid debt, each new loan had higher interest rates.
Not saying it will happen, but a few banks may have to eat huge losses. The poor people of Chicago were the equivalent of our Federal Reserve…now they have been bleed dry through taxation.
One wonders how much longer our “ lender of last resort” Federal Reserve can keep printing up and loaning out money to keep the US government afloat…..the answer? It can’t….tic, Toc, tic, Toc.
The Covid mRNA shots are still killing and disabling many, reducing our population.
The Omaha city pension was managed by local members including one I went to school with who was a plumber. The ratio got down to around 50% before they took it away and had professionals managing it.
O work for a quasi governmental agency and while I’m on the traditional pension, workers hired after 2010 have a pension, but when they retire, they get the cash value that they then manage.
The trend towards 401ks is the right one in my opinion. You should be responsible for your retirement, not the taxpayers. That’s whose going to underwrite the raiding and pi$$ poor management of these Chicago slush funds.
Once the Chicago mob get its hands on your money, you won’t get it back.
Since I don’t live in Chicago, I don’t know what they were doing. I do know that a lot of other cities take their pension obligations seriously enough that they don’t borrow from pension funds. Alas, the Federal Government was originally forbidden from raiding Social Security, but they rescinded that law and began giving away our future. How smart would it be to take all of the tariff funds plus money saved by DOGE and immediately apply it to the Federal debt? Congress has more than enough money as it is. Time to put these clowns on a diet.
LOL!!! SHITCAGO!
I agree. As it is, if I take what I paid into SS plus my employers’ contributions and invested it at 5% for 46 years, I need to live to be 143 years old to break even. Given my life expectancy, if I had those funds now, I could take more than double my present SS check and still have funds left over at age 95.
President Bush tied to privatize SS, but people said they were afraid to manage their funds. How stupid. If you’re afraid, hire a professional money manager. At least they won’t spend your money by giving illegals free room and board at the Roosevelt Hotel in NYC.
There are movements to eliminate property taxes for seniors, I would vote against that (even as a senior) because of all the seniors that voted for increased taxes and out of control spending. They should not get off the hook for what they caused.
That said I would vote for ending property taxes for everyone.
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