In 2001 pension costs consumed 30 percent of Decatur, Illinois' property taxes. In 2011 they will consume 70 percent, a total of $80 million. According to the City Manager and Finance Director elected officials have been making the annual contribution, "but the unfunded liability keeps growing." Tonight, the City Council will convene to discuss the property tax levy. The city has already cut the library's budget, eliminated the Bookmobile program, taken money from the Abraham Lincoln bicentennial fund, the construction fund, and the general fund to meet the pension bill. Considering that this municipal budget crisis is taking place in Illinois, the state with one of the largest and most looming unfunded pension obligation, Decatur doesn't have many options. Bankruptcy for the municipality may be the only way out.
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Copyright © 2013 Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, Inc. All rights reserved.
52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10017
phone (212) 599-7000 / fax (212) 599-3494
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