“As of the end of 2017, City Hall was about $28 billion short of what’s needed to cover future pension payments to retired city workers. That debt was about $7.7 billion less than at the end of 2016. … But there’s a bit of accounting wizardry at work: Finance officials who prepared the yearly report assume the city will be making higher contributions to its four pension funds in coming years, as required under various state laws Emanuel engineered to prevent them from going broke.”