CTA's Fiscal Masochism

Huge HT to The Bench.

In 1994 the Chicago Transit Authority drastically cut payments to its pension fund, which was deemed healthy enough to ride out a period of reduced contributions.

In the following years the agency and its bus and train operators' unions repeatedly turned to so-called pension 'holidays.'

Today, the results of those holidays are stark: The agency faces a $110 million budget crunch that is due in large part to the need to make up for years of insufficient pension funding.

While CTA officials have blamed a lack of state funds and Springfield politics for the current crisis, the pension debacle illustrates the extent to which the agency's financial woes are self-inflicted.

Indeed, public records and dozens of interviews show:

* Taking the first steps toward repairing the agency's pension fund, along with paying rapidly increasing employee wages and health care costs, will cost the CTA $101.4 million this year, accounting for 92 percent of the CTA budget gap.

* The CTA pays among the highest wages of any major U.S. urban transit system. It devotes a bigger share of its operating budget to payroll than all but a few other big systems.

It has allowed some of its employees to retire in their 40's with full pension benefits after 40 [sorry, mind lapse, correction, 25 yrs.] years service. Full story at The Chi Town Daily News.