The following blog post discusses how the City of Chicago has used surplus revenue in its tax increment financing (TIF) districts since 2013. TIF is a powerful economic development tool for the City of Chicago, particularly at a time when capital and development funding from the State of Illinois and federal government has been scarce. One out of every four properties in the City is in a TIF…
Last week, the Civic Federation wrote about the Chicago City Council’s recent approval of a resolution to begin livestreaming committee meetings in September 2019. The Civic Federation continues to recommend that the Chicago Public Schools Board of Education follow suit on livestreaming their meetings. As the largest school district in Illinois, Chicago Public Schools should be a leader in the…
In a series of blog posts last year, the Civic Federation examined the Illinois State Actuary’s first analysis of the Chicago Teachers’ Pension Fund (CTPF) actuarial assumptions and the impact changes to the actuarial assumptions recommended by the State Actuary had on the CTPF’s funded status. This blog post provides an update to those posts for decisions made during CTPF’s fiscal year 2018. In…
2019 Civic Federation Legislative Priorities The Civic Federation's legislative priorities for 2019 include public employee pension reforms, consolidation of local government units in Illinois, enacting policies to rationalize the property tax system, creation of a Local Government Protection Authority, requiring the State of Illinois to…
Click here to read the full report. The Civic Federation supports Chicago Public Schools’ proposed FY2019 budget of $7.6 billion with reservations. Due to considerable recurring revenue sources, including increased State funding and a property tax levy dedicated to pension funding, the District’s financial position has significantly stabilized compared to recent years. However, as detailed in…
*Note: This blog post was updated on April 13, 2018 with more recent information on the Chicago Public Schools’ short-term borrowing and cash flow position. Chicago Public Schools (CPS) is heading into the next annual budget cycle for the 2019 fiscal year that begins on July 1, 2018. In a letter from CEO Janice Jackson to principals, CPS announced that individual school budgets will be…
Public Act 100-0465, which overhauled the State of Illinois’ school funding formula and made significant changes to how Chicago teachers’ pensions are funded, also required the State Actuary to review the actuarial assumptions and valuation of the Chicago Teachers’ Pension Fund (CTPF) as it does annually for the State’s five retirement systems. The Auditor General released the State Actuary’s…
Illinois has by far the greatest number of local governments in the nation at 6,963, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2012 Census of Governments. The vast number of local governments in Illinois is often cited as a driving factor for Illinois’ high property tax rate, one of the highest in the nation, as many of the local governments are primarily funded by property taxes. A large share of…
After several iterations and much disagreement, the State of Illinois now has a new statewide school funding formula. The Illinois General Assembly approved the new formula as Senate Bill 1947, House Floor Amendment 5 on August 29, with the Illinois House passing the bill Monday, August 28 and the Senate concurring the next day. The Governor signed the bill into law as Public Act 100-0465 on…
Click here to read the full report. The Civic Federation opposes the Chicago Public Schools’ proposed $5.7 billion operating budget and total budget of $6.5 billion because it does not do enough to divert CPS from its dismal fiscal trajectory. Amid budget, liquidity, debt and pension funding crises, the FY2018 budget relies on nearly $570 million in still uncertain funding and on costly short-…
