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…
The long-term lease of assets by the City of Chicago is one of the most significant financial undertakings by the City in recent years. These groundbreaking transactions have received national attention and been examined by other governments interested in new models of public-private partnerships. Recognizing the importance of these actions, the Civic Federation continues to examine these complex transactions and use of the proceeds. The Civic Federation’s annual budget analysis of the City of…
Managed competition is a form of alternative service delivery or public-private partnership (P3) that requires in-house service units of a government to compete with external providers under a controlled or managed process. It involves comparing the costs and benefits of contracting out public services versus the costs and benefits of those same services being provided by public employees. This approach was pioneered by the city of Phoenix, Arizona in the 1970s and has since been utilized by a…
Managed competition is a form of alternative service delivery that requires in-house service units of a government to compete with external providers under a controlled or managed process. The purpose of this issue brief is to describe managed competition, provide a short history of its use and results, identify managed competition best practices and review the forms of managed competition being used in selected jurisdictions including San Diego, California; Charlotte, North Carolina; Cook…
Last week the Civic Federation blog featured an analysis of long-term obligations for six selected municipalities in Illinois and their overlapping governments using a per capita indicator based on unfunded pension liabilities. This week’s blog uses the same per capita indicator to examine bonded debt for the same six municipalities and their overlapping governments. The overlapping pensions per capita and debt per capita figures are indicators that the Civic Federation has long calculated for…
The blogs for this week and next week will examine the long-term obligations of six selected municipalities in Illinois and their overlapping local governments using per capita indicators based on unfunded pension liabilities and bonded debt. The overlapping pensions per capita and the debt per capita figures are indicators that the Civic Federation has long calculated for Chicago residents. These two posts expand these important indicators for residents of other municipalities. This aggregate…
Last week the City of Chicago released its Annual Financial Analysis for 2013. According to an executive order issued by Mayor 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 year-end estimates for the current fiscal year (which ends on December 31) and revenue and expenditure estimates for FY2014. For more information on what is included in the annual reports, see the…
