The following are the five most read posts presented by the Civic Federation blog in 2016. These posts examine issues ranging from local government consolidation to pension funding reform. Cook County Electorate to Vote on Referendum to Merge the Recorder of Deeds with the County Clerk July 20, 2016 This post highlights an initiative long supported by the Civic Federation to merge the…
2017 Civic Federation Legislative Priorities The Civic Federation's legislative priorities for 2017 include public employee pension reforms, consolidation of local government units in Illinois, expanding the sales tax base while controlling spending, creation of a Local Government Protection Authority, requiring the State of Illinois to build a rainy day…
The Civic Federation supports the proposed FY2017 City of Chicago budget of $8.2 billion because it continues to work toward addressing the City’s unfunded pension liabilities and makes significant improvements over past financial practices. Despite setbacks due to recent court rulings, all four City funds now have proposed dedicated funding sources. As mentioned in the full report, Mayor…
On October 11, 2016, Mayor Rahm Emanuel presented his recommended FY2017 budget to the Chicago City Council. Included in the Mayor’s recommended budget for FY2017 is a proposal to impose a new $0.07 tax on disposable plastic and paper bags provided by merchants to customers. Stores would be responsible for collecting the tax but would then remit $0.05 per bag to the City and keep $0.02. The…
Decisions by two of the largest State of Illinois pension funds to reduce their expected rates of return on investment have garnered headlines, but they were not the only funds to change their assumptions recently. On May 11, 2016, the Retirement Board for the Firemen’s Annuity and Benefit Fund of Chicago voted to reduce the expected rate of return on investment for the fund to 7.5% from 8.0…
The City of Chicago recently released its mid-year Annual Financial Analysis for 2016, which provides financial estimates for the City’s fiscal year ending on December 31, 2016 and a forecast for the next fiscal year. The analysis shows improvements toward reducing the budget deficit and eliminating “scoop and toss” borrowing practices. This is the first year that the City has released the…
In April 2016, the Illinois Department of Revenue announced that it discovered a misallocation totaling an estimated $168 million in extra Personal Property Replacement Taxes (PPRT) distributed to 6,527 local government taxing entities throughout Illinois. This misallocation equals 6% of the total $2.8 billion PPRT payments made to local governments in tax years 2014 and 2015. Each local…
One year after passing the Illinois General Assembly, a bill that puts the City of Chicago’s Police and Fire pension funds on a 40-year plan to reach 90% funding has become law. Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner vetoed the legislation after it was sent for his consideration on March 31, 2016, but the General Assembly voted to override the veto. Senate Bill 777 (now Public Act 99-0506), reduces by $…
The City of Chicago and Cook County recently joined a number of states nationwide in a move to exempt female hygiene products from the sales tax. At the Local Level On March 16, 2016 the Chicago City Council voted to exempt certain female hygiene products from Chicago’s Home Rule Municipal Retailer’s Occupation Tax of 1.25%. The City Council also passed two resolutions calling on the…
The Civic Federation co-hosted a conference with the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago on April 4, 2016 entitled, “Medicaid Expansion and the Affordable Care Act: A Fiscal Checkup.” Experts, practitioners and academics from around the country gathered to discuss the choices states have made with regard to expanding coverage to previously uninsured populations. Attendees to the sold out conference…
