On November 18, 2020, the City of Chicago released a multi-year capital plan for FY2021 through FY2025. The plan totals $11.7 billion over the 5-year period. This is a 36.5%, or $3.1 billion, increase from the previous FY2020 five-year capital plan of $8.6 billion. The new capital plan provides a summary of projects to be primarily funded with general obligation bonds. It is not a full capital improvement plan (CIP) that provides comprehensive information about the planning, financing and…
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s proposed budget for the fiscal year starting January 1, 2021 includes a property tax increase of $93.9 million for a total property tax levy of $1.6 billion. This blog post will explore the three component parts of the increase. The City of Chicago, as a home rule unit of government, is not subject to the Property Tax Extension Limitation Law (PTELL) but does have its own self-imposed property tax limitation that is modeled on PTELL. Local governments that are…
Click here to read the full report. Click here to read the press release for this analysis. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The emergence of COVID-19 as a pandemic in early 2020 created a once-in-a-century and unprecedented challenge for states and cities across the country as economic activity was substantially limited due to public health concerns. The Federation recognizes that Mayor Lightfoot and her administration—like mayors across the country—had limited time and options to address an unforeseen…
The City of Chicago expects year-end general operating revenues to be 20.6% below budget by the end of the current 2020 fiscal year, according to the City’s FY2021 budget proposal. As described in a previous blog post, the City released a mid-year budget forecast at the end of August for the City’s Corporate Fund, which is the general operating fund. The budget forecast anticipated actual revenue in FY2020 to be $3.5 billion compared to the originally budgeted amount of $4.4 billion. This blog…
With the City of Chicago facing a $1.2 billion budget deficit heading into the next fiscal year and calls from community advocates for more funding for violence prevention and social services, the current situation begs the question of whether cuts can be made in the Police Department budget, and if so, where? The Chicago Police Department budget adopted for the current 2020 fiscal year totals $1.76 billion. The majority, $1.65 billion, is accounted for in the Corporate Fund, which is the City’…
The City of Chicago recently released its Budget Forecast for FY2021, which provides financial estimates for the City’s current fiscal year that ends on December 31, 2020 and a forecast for the next fiscal year and following two years. This is the second forecast produced by Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s administration since she took office in May 2019. Under the previous mayoral administration, the City produced an Annual Financial Analysis that was required by executive order to be released by July…
Starting July 1, 2020, many Illinois cannabis consumers will see an increase in the taxes they pay on recreational cannabis as the Cannabis Retailers’ Occupation Tax that is allowed to be imposed by counties and municipalities goes into effect. This local option sales tax will be in addition to state excise, general sales and privilege taxes and existing local sales taxes on general merchandise. The state legislation legalizing recreational cannabis, as amended by subsequent trailer bills,[1]…
In the wake of protests over the deaths of George Floyd and other Black Americans at the hands of police officers, police accountability and reform has risen to the forefront in government discussions, and residents in many cities have called for defunding the police. The defund-the-police movement has called into question the best use of budget resources and whether some issues often handled by police would be better served through community services. The Minneapolis City Council passed a…
This blog post is an update to the Civic Federation’s April 9, 2020 blog post: How COVID-19 is Impacting Chicago’s Criminal Justice System and How Public Safety Agencies are Responding. Cook County Jail The Cook County Jail population on May 15 was 4,061. Another 3,186 defendants were under community supervision on electronic monitoring. These numbers represent a 29% decrease in the number of detainees in jail and a 31% increase in the number of people on electronic monitoring compared to March…
The coronavirus pandemic has dealt a severe blow to Chicago’s hospitality industry. Conventions have been cancelled, dine-in restaurants have closed, airport traffic has plunged and sporting events have been cancelled. As of early April, the City had experienced the loss of over 20 conventions and 250,000 hotel bookings related to those events.[1] The coronavirus closures have had an abrupt and serious impact on the hospitality tax revenues used to pay for bonds issued by the Metropolitan Pier…
