The Civic Federation supports the Chicago Park District’s FY2009 budget because it is a fiscally responsible plan and demonstrates a commendable emphasis on cost containment and avoids a property tax increase for the fifth consecutive year. This has been accomplished utilizing reasonable increases in user fees and charges, personnel reductions, departmental consolidations and a three day District…
The Civic Federation supports the CTA’s FY2009 budget of $1.3 billion as a responsible short-term plan to provide critical mass transit services to the Chicagoland population. The CTA’s proposed fare increases of 25 to 50 cents per ride, combined with personnel reductions, are a reasonable means of offsetting the mounting costs of the free ride programs mandated by Governor Blagojevich, decreased…
The Civic Federation supports the Forest Preserve District's proposed $193.6 million budget because the District will freeze its property tax levy this year and maintains a prudent fund balance. However, the Federation warns that the District will face fiscal pressure in the future due to rising personnel costs and should implement performance measurements to assess the effectiveness of its…
The Civic Federation offers qualified support for the DuPage County $505 million FY2009 budget proposal. Although DuPage County has proposed a reasonable spending plan that freezes property tax, our support is qualified because the budget fails to provide sufficient transparency and to demonstrate that the County Board is effectively planning for its future financial challenges.
This report compares property tax rates in selected communities around metropolitan Chicago, and finds that effective rates for commercial property in Chicago declined by nearly 60 percent between tax years 1999 and 2006.
The Civic Federation does not support the City Colleges' proposed FY2009 budget because it is unsustainable and relies almost exclusively on revenue enhancements, such as a maximum property tax increase, rather than focusing on ways to reduce costs. The Federation commends the District for beginning to implement important planning procedures, but urges it to use these tools to control spending…
This report calls for the dissolution of the Illinois International Port District and the transfer of its operations to the City of Chicago. It finds that the District has shifted its primary focus from port operations to the management of a golf course. Even though the golf course brings in over half the District's annual revenue, the Civic Federation found no evidence that those revenues have…
This joint report by the Civic Federation and Friends of the Forest Preserves calls for the creation of an independent board of commissioners for the Forest Preserve District of Cook County. The report finds that the current arrangement by which the Cook County Board of Commissioners also serves as the governing board for the Forest Preserve District has resulted in conflicts of interest and…
The Civic Federation's legislative priorities for 2008 include public pension reform, tax increment financing disclosure, creation of a separate board of commissioners for the Cook County Forest Preserve District, school financial management accountability reforms, property tax assessment appeal reforms, timely county audits, and retiree health care trust fund authorization.
This report provides a trend analysis of indicators that measure the financial health and performance of ten major local government pension funds from 1997 to 2006. It finds a combined 18.3 billion dollars in unfunded liabilities for the ten funds, and makes numerous recommendations on legislative actions that should be taken to slow the downward spiral of pension underfunding.
