Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel unveiled his 2017 budget proposal to close a $138 million gap while absorbing some of the expense of hiring 1,000 new police officers over the next two years. "It is a budget free of an immediate pension crisis, free of the black cloud of insolvency threatening the retirements of city employees and the financial future of Chicago," Emanuel said. No new major taxes were announced, but the city has already hit taxpayers' pockets deeply. After turning to various fee and tax increases in recent years to cut the structural deficit and improve water infrastructure, the city council passed a record $543 million annual property tax hike late last year and a new water/sewer tax this year to help stabilize its pension system. Both phase in hikes over the coming years. The pension funds' collective $33.8 billion of net pension liabilities — for a funded ratio of 23 percent — have dragged the city's ratings down as low as junk from one rating agency. "Five years ago, Chicago was on the financial brink. Today, Chicago is back on solid ground," Emanuel said.
