The Illinois General Assembly passed a budget for fiscal year 2019 on May 31, 2018 and Governor Rauner signed it into law on June 4, 2018. The Institute for Illinois' Fiscal Sustainability has since then continued to analyze the enacted State of Illinois budget, releasing periodic updates via the IIFS blog. All of the enacted budget content is gathered on this page for readers’ convenience.…
2019 Civic Federation Legislative Priorities The Civic Federation's legislative priorities for 2019 include public employee pension reforms, consolidation of local government units in Illinois, enacting policies to rationalize the property tax system, creation of a Local Government Protection Authority, requiring the State of Illinois to…
When the State of Illinois enacted its budget for the current fiscal year in June 2018, it had a narrow surplus on paper of about $14 million. But a new report from the Governor’s Office estimates that the State’s actual financial result for FY2019 will be a budget deficit of more than $1 billion—a gap that could widen to $2.8 billion the following year without policy changes. The projected…
Illinois’ contributions to its severely underfunded retirement systems are expected to increase significantly in the upcoming budget year, but the numbers could change due to pension buyout plans that have yet to be implemented. Proposed State contributions to the five pension funds are $9.1 billion in fiscal year 2020, which begins on July 1, 2019. That represents an increase of $679.9 million…
A new study by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that Medicaid enrollment declined by 0.6% across the United States in 2018—the first nationwide drop since 2007. The decrease was linked to a stronger economy, which caused more people to gain jobs and health insurance, as well as increased efforts in some states to verify eligibility. The Kaiser study did not provide enrollment information for…
The Civic Federation is a member of Transform Illinois, a coalition of organizations committed to greater government efficiency. Transform Illinois held its fourth annual Transformer Awards on Thursday, October 11, 2018, which honored three elected officials and one citizen for their work on government streamlining and collaboration. The award winners were: Senator Melinda Bush, representing…
The Illinois Estate tax is levied on net assets over $4 million of the estates of the deceased. Illinois does not have an inheritance tax, which is levied on assets received by the inheritors of an estate. Estate tax revenue is forecast to be $293 million in FY2019, of which 6% will go to the Estate Tax Refund Fund for overpayments. The remaining $275 million will go to General Funds, and…
UPDATE: The State Universities Retirement System (SURS) does not expect to be ready to fully implement pension buyout plans for its members during FY2019, according to documents provided to the Civic Federation. SURS attributed the delay to complex benefit provisions, limited staffing and poor quality payroll information. As discussed below, the other two large State pension funds, the Teachers’…
Illinois’ backlog of unpaid bills stood at nearly $7.4 billion as of September 13, down from its peak of nearly $16.8 billion in November 2017. The State’s FY2018 budget stopped the backlog’s growth by ending the two-year budget impasse and authorizing the issuance of $6 billion in bonds to pay off unpaid obligations. The State’s FY2019 budget, however, has a projected (and unlikely) surplus of…
With governments in Illinois facing steep increases in yearly pension contributions, new plans are being floated to borrow billions of dollars to stabilize ailing pension funds and relieve budgetary pressures. The City of Chicago is considering issuing $10 billion in pension obligation bonds (POBs) to shore up its retirement systems. As part of a plan by the non-profit Center for Tax and Budget…
