Apparently, there will never be any problems funding pensions for city workers in Chicago; whenever it appears as though there’s going to be a shortfall, politicians will simply exercise their taxing authority, as necessary.

For proof, they did that very thing last week.

In reporting by CNNMoney, individual residents and businesses that reside in the Windy City will see their water and sewage tax go up by nearly 30 percent over the next four years, courtesy of a vote by the City Council; the reason that is happening is so the Municipal Employees’ Annuity and Benefit Fund of Chicago (MEABF) remains properly funded.

According to records, the MEABF is funded at 32 percent right now, which means that for every dollar it owes in pension income, there’s only 32 cents actually available. According to the fund’s latest annual report, dated Dec. 31, 2015, without the money from this new tax, the MEABF would have run out of money in about ten years.

After the City Council approved the tax last Wednesday, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel issued a statement, saying, “With today's action by City Council, all four of Chicago's pension funds are now off the road to bankruptcy and on the path to solvency.”

“Not only are we shoring up the city's finances, we're ensuring that thousands of workers are able to retire with dignity and security.”

As for those city residents who find themselves increasingly on the hook for more and higher taxes, not only is there no sign that the “culture of taxation” in Chicago is going to change anytime soon, but it appears those in charge have no qualms whatsoever about levying the sums they want on whatever bases they choose; last year, Chicago instituted a nine percent “cloud” tax on consumers of streaming content, like that found at Netflix and Amazon Prime.

While it’s great that, in Emanuel’s words, “thousands of workers” will have the ability “to retire with dignity and security” because of the new monies now available to shore up the MEABF, the long-term viability of “old-style” municipal pensions remains highly questionable. Among the many problems plaguing these structures include those almost impossible to work around, like the fact that people are simply living longer. Pensions are, of course, guaranteed paychecks, and as folks continue to last for more and more years, those guaranteed paychecks will go from representing “merely” a significant strain on cities, to becoming an insurmountable challenge.

In places like Chicago and New York, more money is now spent on cops in retirement than on those actually working, and it is practically assured that this kind of top-heaviness, vis-à-vis municipal workers, will become increasingly characteristic throughout America’s cities as time goes on.

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large