On September 9, 2015, the Cook County Board of Commissioners approved the preliminary budget of the County’s public health system for the fiscal year that begins on December 1, 2015 and runs through November 30, 2016. The vote cleared the way for inclusion of the preliminary budget in the County Board President’s overall FY2016 budget recommendation, which is scheduled to be announced in October…
The Illinois Department of Revenue announced earlier this summer that the final equalization factor for the Cook County 2014 property assessment year (taxes payable in 2015) is 2.7253. The 2014 final equalization factor of 2.7253 is greater than the final 2013 equalization factor of 2.6922. This does not mean that property taxes will go up or down. It means that, overall, the weighted average…
On July 15, 2015, the Cook County Board of Commissioners voted 9-7 to once again increase the county sales tax by one percentage point, taking effect on January 1, 2016. Once in place for one full year, Board President Toni Preckwinkle’s office projects that the tax hike will generate nearly $474 million in revenues and proposed that revenues be dedicated to start to pay down the County’s $6.5…
The Civic Federation joined with the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago on April 2, 2015 to co-host a conference on the use, efficacy and future of sin taxes. Experts, practitioners and academics from around the country gathered to discuss the theories surrounding governments’ use of sin taxes as well as national trends and issues specific to tobacco, marijuana and gaming revenue. Attendees to the…
What local government purposes, services, or expenditures does your property tax dollar fund? Governments traditionally use property tax revenues to pay for a wide variety of expenditures, including employee salaries and pensions, debt service and administrative costs. But, there are significant differences among local governments regarding the use of these revenues. This blog post describes how…
The Civic Federation has long supported sensible legislation aimed at improving the efficiency and effectiveness of government operations in Illinois. The purpose of this blog is to summarize briefly consolidation legislation and initiatives that have been proposed since our last update on this topic in September 2014. Local Government Consolidation and Unfunded Mandates Task Force One of…
Short-term or current liabilities are financial obligations that must be satisfied within one year. They can include short-term debt, accounts payable, accrued payroll and other current liabilities. This blog post presents 12-year trends for 1) total short-term liabilities in the Governmental Funds and 2) short-term liabilities as a percentage of operating revenues for the three largest local…
The Civic Federation’s previous blog examined the long-term debt of eight major local governments in northeastern Illinois. This blog explores the unfunded pension liabilities of ten pension funds sponsored by local governments in the Chicago area using a per capita indicator based on unfunded pension liabilities. Between FY2004 and FY2013, pension obligations per capita for Chicagoans’…
The Civic Federation regularly analyzes and comments on the budgets and audited financial statements of eight major local governments in northeastern Illinois: 1. City of Chicago; 2. Chicago Public Schools (CPS); 3. Cook County; 4. Chicago Transit Authority (CTA); 5. Forest Preserve District of Cook County (FPDCC); 6. City Colleges of Chicago; 7. Chicago Park District; and 8. Metropolitan Water…
The Civic Federation’s recent report profiling six townships in Cook County with the largest unincorporated population examined issues related to annexing unincorporated areas. The report described the unincorporated areas and identified many of the barriers that municipalities might face if they were to annex the unincorporated areas adjacent to their borders. Based on interviews conducted with…
