Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s proposed 2023 budget includes an extra $242 million to help pay for some of Chicago’s underfunded pension debt, which currently stands at $34 billion. That’s a commendable step, given the ever-present temptation to kick pension funding into the future for someone else to worry about.
But at the same time, Lightfoot, with the support of many on the City Council, decided last week to nix a $42.7 million property tax increase that could have been used to narrow the pension funding gap even more. That $34 billion isn’t going anywhere, so naturally skeptics say they wouldn’t be surprised to see a vote on a property tax increase resurrected after the Nov. 8 election.
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