Countdown To Insolvency Begins For Chicago Pensions As State Supreme Court Rejects Reform Bid
Last July, Cook County judge Rita Novak dealt Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel a bitter blow in his efforts to cut pension expenses.
“A Cook County judge will rule on the legality of a 2014 pension law aimed at reforming two of Chicago’s underfunded city retirement systems,” the Illinois Policy Institute wrote, in the lead up to the crucial ruling. “While the pension law included some much-needed reforms, such as an increase in the retirement age, if upheld the law ultimately would put Chicago residents on the hook for millions of dollars of tax increases.”
Novak’s decision came on the heels of a May ruling by the state Supreme Court which, in a unanimous decision, struck down a pension reform bid as an unconstitutional violation of benefits that are widely seen as sacrosanct. The read through from that ruling prompted Moody’s to downgrade Chicagoto junk, giving the Windy City the dubious distinction of being the only major metropolitan area “in recent history” to carry such a low rating other than Detroit.
Two months later, Novak cited the state Supreme Court’s ruling on her way to declaring Emanuel’s plan unconstitutional.
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