The House voted 72-43 to override Gov. Bruce Rauner’s veto of the savings plan, which trumps state law that required the city to pump $4.62 billion into pension accounts for police officers and firefighters through 2020.
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The legislation was approved in the House past year with 65 votes – six short of the number needed for a veto override.
The new version allows Chicago to pay only $619 million into the pensions this year, and gives the city until 2055 to get the pensions 90 percent funded.
“Without an override, “there will be an additional $287 million property tax increase on top of the $543 million” tax hike the city already pushed through in October”, Senate President John Cullerton said before the vote.
“The cost to Chicago’s taxpayers of kicking this can down the road is truly staggering”, Rauner said Friday in his veto message to lawmakers. “On Memorial Day I particularly want to thank the Democrats and Republicans in the General Assembly for putting politics aside and doing the right thing for Chicago taxpayers, and for our first responders”, Mr. Emanuel said in a statement.
The veto comes during a time of heightened bitterness between Rauner and Democrats at the state Capitol who backed the plan.
FILE – In this May 20, 2016, file photo, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, responds to a question during a news conference in Chicago.
The state’s historic budget impasse dates back to last June when the Illinois House adjourned the 2015 spring session without making a budget deal.
The city’s police and fire funds are $12 billion short of what’s needed to cover current and future obligations.
The Democratic-controlled Senate voted 39-19 earlier Monday to OK the plan unions endorse.
The proposal from the Rauner administration is last-ditch effort they say “serves as a bridge to keep government functioning” as the governor and lawmakers continue negotiating a full budget.
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“At some point, you’re going to have to take fiscal responsibility for your own actions”, Naperville Republican Rep. Grant Wehrli said.
