Since the Civic Federation’s last blog on changes to taxes imposed on tobacco purchases, Chicago area local governments have increased tobacco tax rates, which will have an impact on Chicago consumers. As part of the FY2013 budget and effective March 1, 2013, Cook County increased its home rule tax rate from $2.00 to $3.00 per pack of cigarettes. As part of the City’s FY2014 budget, Chicago’s…
As a follow-up to the Capital Planning Overview, this blog post summarizes information contained in the Civic Federation’s FY2014 budget analyses to compare how well the capital improvement plans (CIPs) of six major Chicago area governments conform to best practice guidelines. The governments are the City of Chicago, the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA), Cook County, the Cook County Forest…
Last month the Civic Federation released its annual estimate of the full value of real estate in Chicago and the Cook County suburbs. After four straight years of significant drops in estimated value, the rate of decline in the County as a whole slowed in 2011. Tax year 2011 is the most recent year for which data are available. The 2011 estimate of the full value of property in Cook County was $…
The following posts were among the most highly read on the Civic Federation blog in 2013 and represent some of the most closely followed local government issues this year: City Council’s Proposed Independent Budget Office, A Civic Federation Recommendation January 2, 2013 This blog details a proposal introduced in the Chicago City Council on December 12, 2012 to create an Office of Independent…
Last week the Civic Federation marked the end of the FY2014 budget season with a blog that summarized the proposed budgets for the eight local governments the Federation monitors. These governments include the City Colleges of Chicago, Chicago Public Schools (CPS), the City of Chicago, Cook County, the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA), the Forest Preserve District of Cook County, the…
This report provides estimates of the total market value of real property in Cook County from 2002-2011 and shows how property value is spread among the City of Chicago, the northern and the southern suburbs. The full market value of real estate in Cook County was approximately $442.8 billion in tax assessment year 2011. This represents a decline of $7.0 billion, or 1.6%, from the 2010 estimated…
Last week marked the end of the FY2014 budget season for the eight local governments monitored by the Civic Federation. These governments are the City Colleges of Chicago, Chicago Public Schools (CPS), the City of Chicago, Cook County, the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA), the Forest Preserve District of Cook County, the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago (MWRD) and…
This report compares effective property tax rates in selected communities around metropolitan Chicago. The Civic Federation found mixed results across the region for effective tax rates in 2011 with rises in tax rates for all of the collar county municipalities studied over 2010 while in Cook County some communities saw decreases in residential effective tax rates. Commercial effective tax rates…
Recent trend analysis performed by the Civic Federation shows that the funded status of the Cook County Pension Fund declined again in fiscal year 2012, the most recent year for which data are available. The market value funded ratio for the County pension fund fell to 55.1% in FY2012 from 69.1% in FY2003. The fund was over 90% funded as recently as FY2000. Funded ratio and unfunded…
The Civic Federation supports Cook County’s proposed FY2014 operating budget of $3.2 billion for holding the property tax levy relatively flat, reducing expenditures and aggressively pursuing new revenue for the Cook County Health and Hospitals System under the federal Affordable Care Act. The administration continues to stabilize the County budget without increasing the property tax burden on…
