How Chicago's pensions are crushing the City?
- snitzoid
- Dec 9, 2025
- 1 min read
What she's failing to understand is our wonderful park system and river walk. It's not all about money.
Just kidding!
BTW: Some facts presented in the video which I crossed checked at CivicFed.com:
Pensions, employee benefits and Debt Combined
In 2025, pension and debt service costs together consume approximately 40% of Chicago's entire budget, totaling nearly $5 billion. Breaking this down:
Pensions alone: $2.9 billion in 2025 , which represents roughly 23-24% of the city's net appropriations
Debt service: Just over $2 billion in 2025, representing about 16% of the total budget
Employee Benefits (Beyond Pensions): Separate from pensions, employee benefits spending (which includes healthcare and other benefits) represent an additional 4-5% of the budget.
Property Taxes
In 2025, nearly 78% of the city's property tax dollars go toward pensions. That's up significantly from 63% in 2019 to 81% by 2025 .
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