Municipal bankruptcies are very rare but a spate of filings, including the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history by the City of Detroit, and ongoing municipal budgetary stress around the country has led to discussions of what, if…
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…
In the past few months, it has become evident that Illinois vastly underestimated the number of newly eligible recipients who would sign up for Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. However, the fiscal implications of the unexpectedly…
As recently as 2011, the State of Illinois projected its backlog of unpaid income tax refunds could increase to more than $1.0 billion but by the end of…
A new law that restores certain Medicaid benefits previously cut due to budget pressures also adds a new service: kidney transplants for undocumented Illinois residents.…
Despite its name, a social impact bond (SIB) is not a debt instrument and does not require a government to issue debt. Rather, an SIB is a social impact financing arrangement whereby funds are raised from private sector investors to…
The Civic Federation and the Motorola Solutions Foundation issued a call for nominations this week for the 23rd Annual Motorola Solutions Foundation Excellence in Public Service Award. The award seeks to honor individuals whose exemplary…
Information included in recent bond disclosures by the State of Illinois indicate that the pension obligation bonds (POBs) sold in 2003 primarily to boost the retirement systems’ assets have earned the minimum investment returns needed to…
Some recent progress has been made when it comes to reducing the number of local governments in Illinois. The State of Illinois has 6,963 local governments. To provide context to this issue, the table below displays the type and number of…
