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One of the guests at the wedding I attended yesterday is an elected official in a community in the region. The town is struggling financially, with many infrastructure needs and little money.

But of course one of the big kickers is pension costs. They have more retired police than active, which is one problem. Somehow some past administrations did not contribute enough to the state fund, and now they must catch up. And you know the rest: they cannot negotiate their own pension agreements suited to the affordability and the wishes of local voters for any public employees. They must accept what the state sets.

And you all familiar with the way school districts work in Illinois know that they have their own boundaries, often going way, way back, with their own taxes. They are not the same as the major town(s). Thus, in this case the town has no option for balancing school budgets against town budgets.

I hope I have the story right.