The Civic Federation announced its support for the City Colleges of Chicago FY2013 tentative budget on July 12, testifying at a public hearing and releasing its analysis of the proposed $659.5 million budget. The budget demonstrates continued fiscal discipline and attention to financial best practices as City Colleges enters the third phase of its multi-year Reinvention effort. The FY2013…
The Civic Federation supports the City Colleges FY2013 budget totaling $659.5 million because it demonstrates continued fiscal discipline and attention to financial best practices. Unrestricted operating funds, the portion of the budget over which the District exercises maximum control, will decrease by 0.8%, or $2.4 million dollars from the previous year. The property tax levy will remain flat…
UPDATE: On Friday, August 3, 2012, Governor Quinn signed into law the pension reforms for the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District Retirement Fund as Public Act 097-0894. This blog post provides background information on the funding status of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District Retirement Fund and a description of significant reforms to the funding of the pension plan that were…
UPDATE: On Thursday, August 2, 2012, Governor Quinn signed legislation to require all counties to release their financial statements within six months of the end of their fiscal year as Public Act 097-0890. The legislation takes effect upon becoming law. On May 11, 2012 the Illinois House of Representatives joined the Illinois Senate in voting to eliminate an exemption for Illinois’ largest and…
On December 12, 2011, Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced the College to Careers initiative for the City Colleges of Chicago. The new initiative addresses the need to fill an estimated approximately 100,000 jobs that are expected to be available in Chicago between now and 2020.[1] College to Careers focuses on two job fields expected to grow significantly in the next ten years: 1) healthcare and 2)…
In return for watching over District land and serving as a deterrent to crime or misuse, the Forest Preserve District of Cook County rents housing on its property to employees at drastically discounted rates through its Resident Watchmen Program. On October 28, 2011, the District announced plans to strengthen the program by implementing basic requirements for renters and increasing the fee…
On February 8, 2012, the Chicago Park District Board of Commissioners unanimously voted to provide the Institute of Puerto Rican Arts and Culture (IPRAC) $243,407 in funds from the District’s personal property tax replacement (PPRT) receipts. The PPRT is a corporate income tax that is collected by the State of Illinois and remitted to local governments; it was implemented in 1979 after local…
Data from the most recent audited financial statements of Illinois’ state and local government pension funds shows that the total unfunded liabilities for public employee pensions supported by the taxes of Chicago residents reached $14,896 per capita for fiscal year 2010. That is up from $10,037 per capita in FY2008. Property taxes paid by Chicago residents (both owners and renters) support the…
In 2011 the Civic Federation blog provided weekly context, information and perspective on government budgets and fiscal issues across Illinois. Posts in 2011 focused on FY2012 local government budget analysis and the severe challenges facing local government pension funds, as well as a series of recommendations for improving the fiscal sustainability of the City of Chicago and Cook…
In 2011 the IIFS blog provided weekly context, information and perspective on key fiscal issues in the State of Illinois. Posts in 2011 focused on analysis of FY2012 Illinois budget negotiations, analysis of the ongoing Illinois pension crisis and timely research on other fiscal issues impacting the State of Illinois. The following is a selection of the year’s posts. Analysis of…
