ILL-inois: Moody's downgrades Cook County bond rating--over pensions

Illinois' Cook County--Chicago is the county seat--received some bad news today from Moody's.

And as is often the case, it involves under-funded government pensions.

Cook County has been run by Democrats for nearly five decades.

From Reuters:

Moody's Investors Service has cut its general obligation rating for Cook County to A1 from Aa3.

In issuing the downgrade, Moody's cited growing pension liabilities.

The credit ratings agency also kept a negative outlook on the lower rating due to "formidable" challenges facing the county in getting pension reform through the Illinois legislature.

Moody's said the county's pension contributions fell short of actuarially required contributions. While Cook County reported an unfunded pension liability of $5.6 billion at the end of 2012, Moody's said more conservative assumptions would raise that liability to $12.7 billion.

Technorati tags: Illinois Chicago Illinois PoliticsDemocrats Cook County chicago chicago politics