"The number of retirees drawing benefits from the fund continues to increase, hastened by layoffs or workers retiring ahead of feared pension changes, so the number of workers paying into the fund continues to shrink. Meanwhile, the city's annual contribution to the funds keeps getting bigger. And because the city's revenues have fallen so dramatically, that means the city's growing pension contributions are consuming a greater and greater percentage of the city's cash -- or they would, if the city were even able to make the payments."

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