This week, Chicago Public Schools released its FY2013 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report for July 1, 2012 to June 30, 2013. In it, the District reports a year-end FY2013 deficit of $119 million that was closed using fund balance. This is smaller than the $273 million deficit that was anticipated when the District released its FY2014 budget. One of the main drivers behind the positive variance was also the cause of a significant increase in fund balance last year: the District received…
The following posts were among the most highly read on the Civic Federation blog in 2013 and represent some of the most closely followed local government issues this year: City Council’s Proposed Independent Budget Office, A Civic Federation Recommendation January 2, 2013 This blog details a proposal introduced in the Chicago City Council on December 12, 2012 to create an Office of Independent Budget Analysis responsible for vetting all financial legislation before the Council. The Civic…
Last week the Civic Federation marked the end of the FY2014 budget season with a blog that summarized the proposed budgets for the eight local governments the Federation monitors. These governments include the City Colleges of Chicago, Chicago Public Schools (CPS), the City of Chicago, Cook County, the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA), the Forest Preserve District of Cook County, the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago (MWRD) and the Chicago Park District. This blog…
Last week marked the end of the FY2014 budget season for the eight local governments monitored by the Civic Federation. These governments are the City Colleges of Chicago, Chicago Public Schools (CPS), the City of Chicago, Cook County, the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA), the Forest Preserve District of Cook County, the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago (MWRD) and the Chicago Park District. Property Taxes Two of the seven governments that levy property taxes…
As part of its ongoing analysis of State and local government budgets, the Civic Federation also reviews proposed capital budgets along with any planning documents provided in support of infrastructure investments. Although many governments approve new and reappropriated capital spending on an annual basis, few public entities in Illinois have based these expenditures on comprehensive capital improvement plans (CIPs). Unlike the operating budgets, which mostly require that all appropriated…
Four large local government pension funds in the Chicago area reduced their expected investment rates of return for fiscal year 2012. While intended to make the funds’ actuarial assumptions more realistic, these decisions will also have the effect of increasing the funds’ liabilities and reducing their funded ratios. The State of Illinois’ five retirement funds also recently reduced their expected investment rates of return and the Chicago Teachers’ Pension Fund trustees voted last month to…
Over the next few weeks, many Chicago-area local governments will be releasing their proposed budgets for fiscal year 2014. In preparation for the upcoming budget releases, this blog will recap the Civic Federation’s significant observations from our analyses of local governments’ proposed FY2013 budgets. The governments studied by the Civic Federation include: the City Colleges of Chicago and Chicago Public Schools (CPS) which have already released their FY2014 budgets, City of Chicago, Cook…
Since July 2013 each of the six local governments monitored by the Civic Federation with General Obligation bond debt has experienced downgrades to their bond ratings. These governments are the City of Chicago, Cook County, the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District (MWRD), the Forest Preserve District of Cook County, the Chicago Park District and Chicago Public Schools. In the past three months, Moody’s Investors Service issued downgrades for each of the six local governments, and Fitch…
At the end of the month, the Board of Education for Chicago Public Schools will vote on the District’s $5.6 billion operating budget for FY2014. The total budget of $6.6 billion is supported by local, state and federal revenues and other resources, including $761.6 million of appropriated fund balance. This blog focuses on the State of Illinois’ resources for CPS. The State of Illinois will provide a total of $1.8 billion of revenues in the CPS FY2014 budget, which is a slight decrease of $8.2…
The Civic Federation does not support the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) proposed $6.6 billion operating budget for FY2014, which completely draws down unrestricted reserve funds and uses some restricted reserves to close a $977 million budget deficit. Even after the pain of layoffs and school closings, the District’s long-term fiscal health remains in jeopardy absent pension reform. The Federation acknowledges that the District’s budgetary options are severely constrained by the Illinois…
