Every Illinoisan Owes $11,000 for Pensions With No Fix in Sight
- Three years after court threw out reform, no progress made
- State’s five retirement funds are short $137 billion
The city skyline stands in the background of trees in Lincoln Park in Chicago.
Photographer: John Zich/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Three years ago today, the Illinois Supreme Court struck down the state’s attempt to cut its employees’ pension benefits to chip away at a retirement-system debt that’s swelled to almost $11,000 for every man, woman and child.
Since then, Illinois’s credit rating was downgraded to the verge of junk, its bonds have tumbled and its largest city -- Chicago -- was stripped of its investment-grade status by Moody’s Investors Service. And Republican Governor Bruce Rauner and the Democrat-led legislature have made no real progress toward a new plan that doesn’t violate the state constitution’s ban on reducing benefits.