Honoring Dr. Ngozi Ezike and Dr. Allison Arwady On Wednesday, February 10, 2021 the Motorola Solutions Foundation and the Civic Federation honored the outstanding public service contributions of Dr. Ngozi Ezike and Dr. Allison Arwady. Dr. Ezike serves as the Director of the Illinois Department of Public Health. Dr. Arwady serves as the Commissioner of the Chicago Department of Public Health. The…
Click here to read this issue brief. SUMMARY This annual report lists and describes selected consumer taxes within the City of Chicago. For ease of use by non-specialists, the taxes in this report are grouped under the following categories: sales taxes, tobacco and nicotine-related taxes, beverage-related taxes, utility-related taxes, accommodations-related taxes, transportation-related taxes…
On January 21, 2021, the Civic Federation sent the following letter to Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, urging him to veto House Bill 2451. The bill would expand a 3% non-compounded automatic annual increase to Chicago firefighters’ pensions to all Tier 1 members. The bill passed over the opposition of the leadership of the City of Chicago during the recent lame duck session of the Illinois…
Annually the Civic Federation releases a report on consumer taxes in the City of Chicago. Consumer taxes are tied to the use or consumption of certain goods and services that can be charged directly to consumers through retail transactions or passed onto consumers by businesses or governments. Consumer taxes in Chicago are imposed at various levels of government including by the City of Chicago,…
This blog post provides an update on the status of the City of Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport $8.5 billion modernization project in 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic has seriously depressed air traffic around the world, reducing airline and airport revenues and raising questions about whether the O’Hare modernization project would be delayed. However, Chicago continues to move forward on the…
On November 18, 2020, the City of Chicago released a multi-year capital plan for FY2021 through FY2025. The plan totals $11.7 billion over the 5-year period. This is a 36.5%, or $3.1 billion, increase from the previous FY2020 five-year capital plan of $8.6 billion. The new capital plan provides a summary of projects to be primarily funded with general obligation bonds. It is not a full capital…
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s proposed budget for the fiscal year starting January 1, 2021 includes a property tax increase of $93.9 million for a total property tax levy of $1.6 billion. This blog post will explore the three component parts of the increase. The City of Chicago, as a home rule unit of government, is not subject to the Property Tax Extension Limitation Law (PTELL) but does have…
Click here to read the full report. Click here to read the press release for this analysis. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The emergence of COVID-19 as a pandemic in early 2020 created a once-in-a-century and unprecedented challenge for states and cities across the country as economic activity was substantially limited due to public health concerns. The Federation recognizes that Mayor Lightfoot and her…
The City of Chicago expects year-end general operating revenues to be 20.6% below budget by the end of the current 2020 fiscal year, according to the City’s FY2021 budget proposal. As described in a previous blog post, the City released a mid-year budget forecast at the end of August for the City’s Corporate Fund, which is the general operating fund. The budget forecast anticipated actual revenue…
With the City of Chicago facing a $1.2 billion budget deficit heading into the next fiscal year and calls from community advocates for more funding for violence prevention and social services, the current situation begs the question of whether cuts can be made in the Police Department budget, and if so, where? The Chicago Police Department budget adopted for the current 2020 fiscal year totals $…
