Issue date: 4/1/08 Section: City

Though past contributions have not been enough, Morton felt the council was now putting too much money into the pension fund.

"Apparently the former actuary was at the far left side of reasonable, and the current actuary is at the far right side of reasonable," said Bernstein, who added council members wanted to pay their portion to the fund at a higher level now to reduce interest payments in the future.

City Attorney Herbert Hill told the council that Morton's veto would prevent the city from spending any money until the veto was overridden or a new budget was adopted because the city is required to finalize the budget by the end of February.

After 90 minutes of debate, the council members decided unanimously to override the veto.

"We didn't want the city to shut down and not be able to operate," Holmes said. "It was already past the budget time."

At the March 10 meeting, the council also passed a resolution asking Congress to reform its immigration policy. Three different resolutions were proposed to the council by Aldermen Lionel Jean-Baptiste (2nd) and Edmund Moran (6th).

Both of Moran's resolutions were defeated.

After an extended debate and two amendments, Jean-Baptiste's resolution, the last item of business, was passed at 2:10 a.m., approaching the record for the longest City Council meeting ever.

"(Assistant City Manager) Judy Aiello said if we wanted to stay a few more minutes, we could break the record," Holmes said. "We were ready to go home."



b-rosenthal@northwestern.edu

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