Lightfoot urges General Assembly to do its share to bail out city pension funds

Mayor Lori Lightfoot at a news conference in 2019, the first year of her administration. Since then, she has paid down $1.3 billion in pension debt, and her 2023 budget pre-pays $242 million more of that debt. (Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times file)

Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Friday she’s done all she can to put Chicago’s four city employee pension funds on solid footing — and now, Springfield must do its part.

After paying down $1.3 billion in pension debt over the last four years and climbing the ramp to actuarially based funding, Lightfoot’s $16.4 billion 2023 budget went above and beyond.