This article discusses some of the actions made by the State of Illinois General Assembly during the spring legislative session. The article cites Civic Federation data that showed debt dedicated to the State's pension system has exceeded capital debt.
An actuarial projection of the future solvency of the Chicago Park District’s pension fund has estimated that the fund will exhaust its assets in the year 2025.[1] The projection takes into account the reduced pensions for employees hired on or after January 1, 2011 pursuant to Public Act 96-0889. The Park District’s pension fund was relatively healthy just ten years ago. In FY2001 it had a…
Civic Federation President Laurence Msall discusses Governor Quinn’s FY2012 budget and pension reform in this roundtable discussion.
The Civic Federation opposes Governor Pat Quinn’s $52.7 billion FY2012 recommended operating budget for the State of Illinois because it is unbalanced by approximately $2.4 billion and is based on the premise that long-term borrowing is the right tool to dig the State out from under its massive backlog of unpaid bills and other obligations. To the contrary, the Governor’s proposed borrowing is…
(CHICAGO) A new report by the Institute for Illinois’ Fiscal Sustainability at the Civic Federation has found that Governor Quinn’s proposed budget is unbalanced by a total of $2.4 billion when artificially inflated revenues of $970.9 million are taken into account. The 98 page analysis of the Governor’s proposed $52.7 billion FY2012 budget was released today on the Civic Federation website at…
In this blog post, Greg Hinz discusses a Pew Center on the States report that found Illinois is the worst in the nation at funding its pension systems. The Civic Federation says that the news may serve as a signal to lawmakers that they must address the issue. Click here to read the Federation's blog post about the report.
The Pew Center on the States recently released its report card on the health of state pension systems. Just as they were last year, the funding status of Illinois’ pension systems is the worst in the nation, with the State only funding 51% of its liabilities through FY2009. States in marginally better shape include West Virginia with 56% funding and Oklahoma at 57%. Illinois has its work cut out…
Mayor-Elect Rahm Emanuel and the newly elected Chicago City Council face a host of major financial challenges. One of the hardest problems to solve will be the pension crisis. As a result of recent state legislation, the City now faces two distinct pension problems: two of its four funds are still expected to run out of money by the year 2030 while the other two funds are scheduled to be rescued…
In this blog post, Greg Hinz discusses the conclusions of the Civic Federation's "Cook County Modernization 100-Day Accountability Report." The Federation found that administration of County Board President Toni Preckwinkle has made considerable progress in modernizing operations, but still faces significant challenges over the next few years.
Concerns Remain about Independence of the Health System, Future Budgets (CHICAGO) A new Civic Federation report released today finds that Cook County has made considerable progress toward modernizing its operations, but still faces significant challenges over the next few years. The Cook County Modernization 100-Day Accountability Report is in follow up to the Federation’s October 2010 Cook…
