Chicago’s Plan to Overhaul City Pensions Dashed by Top Court
- State high court upholds decision blocking pension changes
- City warned funds risk running out of money unless altered
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Chicago’s plan to ease its $20 billion public-worker pension deficit was ruled illegal by the Illinois Supreme Court, a decision that the city warned may lead to the funds’ running out of money and worsen its financial strains.
The Chicago plan, passed in 2014, violates the Illinois Constitution, which bars the diminishing of public pensions, the court said Thursday. The finding upholds a lower court decision from July and follows a similar ruling by the Illinois Supreme Court last May preventing changes to the state’s pension funds.