Illinois is paying the price - in both dollars and reputation - for years of ignored warnings about its pension crisis.
For decades, lawmaker have skipped or shorted payments to state retirement funds, creating a $97 billion pension shortfall and giving Illinois the lowest credit rating of any state.
That means when Illinois tries to borrow money, the state is treated much like a person with a bad credit score. It gets charged interest rates far higher than its more responsible peers.
This week, Illinois is expected to try to borrow $1.3 billion to rebuild roads and repair Chicago's elevated trains. According to one estimate, taxpayers will pay more than $18 million in annual extra interest for that loan than states with strong credit ratings, such as Virginia or Maryland.
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Illinois' Bad Credit Costing Taxpayers Millions
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Latest Illinois
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Aug. 17, 2020
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Aug. 15, 2020
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Jul. 29, 2020
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