The Civic Federation is a member of the Governmental Research Association (GRA), which is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year. The GRA is the national organization of individuals professionally engaged in governmental research. Organizations like the Civic Federation from around the country gathered in Washington D.C. this week for a conference to discuss timely government issues and…
This week the City of Chicago released its Annual Financial Analysis for 2014. According to an executive order issued by Mayor Rahm Emanuel on May 20, 2011, the Office of Budget and Management is mandated to produce a financial analysis of the City budget by July 31st of each year. The report includes: A financial condition analysis that covers the previous ten years, including a…
This article discuses an upcoming $550 million contribution to the City of Chicago’s police and fire pension funds. The City’s 2014 Annual Financial Analysis, released July 31, interprets language in the 2011 pension law such that the increased contribution is not payable until 2016. The Civic Federation said this gives the City 16 months to negotiate and pass a pension deal before difficult tax…
This article discusses the City of Chicago’s 2014 Annual Financial Analysis released July 31, which reviews 2014 and includes projections for fiscal years 2015 through 2017. The Civic Federation said the City is making significant progress on managing its finances and reducing the structural deficit, but continued progress is threatened by the failure to address the City’s police and fire pension…
According to recent reports, the State of Illinois’ operating revenues, which are expected to decline this year due to the partial rollback of State income tax rates, exceeded expectations in FY2014, the last full year of the increased income tax rates. Documents published by the State to update bond disclosures include preliminary results for FY2014, which ended on June 30. The new data show…
CPS is balancing its budget in FY2015 in large part by shifting the time period used to report revenues from 30 to 60 days. This will allow the District to access $648.0 million in revenues that it would not otherwise have been able to use. However, this is a one-time maneuver that cannot be repeated in FY2016. Governments report financial transactions for their governmental funds using the…
Less than a month into the new fiscal year, which began on July 1, Standard and Poor’s announced that the financial outlook for the State has deteriorated from “developing” to “negative.” The rating agency directly blamed the FY2015 budget approved by the Governor and General Assembly for the change in perspective. An analyst from S&P stated that the budget was not structurally balanced,…
This column discusses the Civic Federation’s analysis of the FY2015 Chicago Public Schools budget. The Civic Federation could not support the budget because it does nothing to address the District’s fiscal crisis and is balanced only by an accounting maneuver that books more than 12 months of revenue into a single fiscal year.
This article looks at the Chicago Public Schools FY2015 budget in advance of the Board of Education’s July 23 budget hearing. It discusses the Civic Federation’s analysis of the budget, which says the use of one-time and non-recurring revenues indicates the District is not addressing its structural deficit.
This article discusses Chicago Public School’s FY2015 budget, which the Board of Education is expected to approve at a July 23 hearing. The Civic Federation’s recent analysis of the budget shows CPS is continuing to operate with a significant structural deficit by relying heavily on reserve funds and using accounting gimmicks to close ongoing budget gaps.
