This article discusses the Civic Federation’s analysis of the FY2015 City of Chicago budget. The Civic Federation supports the budget for its structural changes and actions toward long-term stability, but is deeply concerned about how the City will manage rising pension costs and debt services payments in future years.
When the Illinois Jobs Now! capital spending program was approved in 2010 the State also approved a series of dedicated revenue sources intended to fund new borrowing costs outside the State operating budget. As previously sold capital bonds were retired, it was anticipated that the cost for new bond funded capital projects would fall outside the operating budget. However, five years into the…
Recent Progress Threatened by Pension Funding Crisis, Borrowing for Operations In a report released today, the Civic Federation announced its support for the City of Chicago’s proposed FY2015 operating budget of $7.3 billion but expressed deep concern for how the City will manage rising pension costs and debt service payments in future years. The full 101-page analysis is available here. The…
The Civic Federation supports the City of Chicago's proposed $7.3 billion budget because it reflects both reasonable structural changes and significant actions toward long-term stability, including the 2014 pension reform law for the City's Municipal and Laborers' pension funds and the continued phase out of the City's retiree health care subsidy. The Federation remains deeply concerned about…
As previously discussed here, the enacted FY2015 budget for the State of Illinois includes several budgetary gimmicks intended to make up for the loss of revenues associated with the expiration of the temporary income tax increases halfway through the fiscal year. Two of these measures include shifting funds to pay for FY2015 General Funds expenses, which masks the growth in spending when…
This article discusses Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s FY2015 Budget announcement for the City of Chicago on October 15. The Civic Federation said the budget is fairly conservative in addressing the city’s $297 million deficit, but lacks a detailed, long-term plan for addressing the City’s underfunded police and fire pension systems.
Whether the State of Illinois has spent more or less on education in the last five years has recently been the subject of intense debate. This blog post examines various factors that affect the calculation of education spending trends and expands on the Civic Federation’s recent report on the State’s enacted budget for FY2015. The Illinois State Board of Education provides resources for…
(The full content of this article is only available to the publication’s subscribers.) This article discuses findings in the FY2015 State of Illinois Enacted Budget analysis recently completed by the Institute for Illinois’ Fiscal Sustainability at the Civic Federation. The analysis found that while General Funds expenditures appear to decline in FY2015, net expenditures actually increase by $…
This article reviews the FY2015 State of Illinois Enacted Budget analysis by the Civic Federation’s Institute for Illinois’ Fiscal Sustainability. The analysis found the budget relies on borrowing and will increase the State’s backlog of unpaid bills to an estimated $6.4 billion, marking the first year-end increase in the backlog since FY2012.
This analysis finds that the State of Illinois' FY2015 enacted budget represents a return to unsustainable fiscal practices including borrowing for operations and underfunding known costs. This spending plan will increase Illinois’ backlog of unpaid bills to $6.4 billion at the end of FY2015, the first year-end increase since FY2012. Additionally, the budget fails to fund nearly $500 million in…
