The City of Chicago announced that it would be following through on its promise to contribute $242 million in the form of an advance pension payment to the City’s four pension funds. This is a part of a new pension funding policy that aims to ensure the city’s continued financial recovery by preventing its unfunded pension liabilities from growing any further. Rating agencies have noted the policy in recent upgrades as a key contributor to the City’s improved ratings. A November 10th rating report from S&P Global Ratings reads, “The city also recently revised its debt and pension policy to require advance annual deposits to the pension funds starting in 2023 in addition to the statutory requirement; these contributions will keep the pension funds from experiencing negative amortization and will also address negative fund performance.” The report goes even further stating that a key driver of the upgrade was “… largely based on the expanded debt and pension policy, as well as the city’s demonstrated ability to execute the type of financial discipline that will be required under the new policy.”