One of the Civic Federation’s ongoing concerns has been transparency in the use of Tax Increment Financing (TIF) by the City of Chicago and State of Illinois. Although the Civic Federation supports the use of TIF as municipal economic development tool, we believe that there is insufficient transparency in the availability and quality of TIF information provided to the public. The Civic Federation has published two pieces on TIF, an issue brief and a companion position statement about the use…
This week the Civic Federation released its annual Effective Property Tax Rates report. The report highlights the fact that in 2007 property tax burdens for many Northeastern Illinois communities rose, while property tax rates in Chicago are still among the lowest in the area. Effective property tax rates is an average calculation that offers a method of comparing residents’ property tax burdens across municipalities and counties. For example, this report shows that in 2007 the average…
Did you ever wonder how your property tax dollars are spent by the City of Chicago? How many people work for the Department of Streets and Sanitation? How much those employees are paid? What kinds of taxes and fees the City levies and how much revenue it gets from each one? The answers to these and many other questions can be found in the City of Chicago’s budget documents and audited financial report. That’s the good news. The bad news is that there are four City budget documents published…
The Civic Federation and our consultant L.E.K. Consulting testified yesterday before the Finance Committee of the Chicago City Council about our review of the financial aspects of the Chicago 2016 Olympic Bid. The Federation delivered its full 90-page report and 22-page narrative summary to all fifty aldermen on August 26, 2009. On June 30, 2009, the Chicago City Council had asked the Civic Federation to perform an independent review of the “revenue and expenditure projections” contained in the…
The Civic Federation and L.E.K. Consulting's review of the Chicago 2016 Olympic Bid has determined that the operating budget provides adequate protection for taxpayers, but the development of the Olympic Village exposes the City of Chicago to continuing real estate risks that must be managed. Click here to read the full 90-page Chicago 2016 Olympic Bid Review.
Since 2004, the City of Chicago has transacted three major long term asset leases worth over $3.5 billion. The Chicago Skyway (2004) – A 99-year lease with Cintra-Macquarie with a transaction value of $1.83 billion. Downtown Parking Garages (2006) – A 99-year lease with Morgan Stanley. This transaction was also with the Chicago Park District. The total value of the transaction is $563 million. Chicago Parking Meters (2009) – A 99-year lease with Morgan Stanley with a transaction…
Police, parks, streets, schools, community colleges, public hospitals, elections, courts, jails, mosquito abatement, sewage treatment…these are just a few of the services that, in Illinois, are provided by many different local governments. Illinois has more units of local government than any other state in the nation, with 6,994 as of October 2007. Many of these governments rely on property taxes as a revenue source. Whether you are an owner or renter of property, you pay property taxes to a…
On June 30, 2009 the Chicago City Council passed a resolution asking the Civic Federation to conduct a review of the financial projections made by Chicago 2016 for the City’s bid for the 2016 Summer Olympic Games. Specifically, the resolution asked the Federation to deliver a report and recommendations to the City Council on Chicago’s financing of the 2016 games and any financial impact on taxpayers. On July 14, 2009, the Civic Federation accepted the City Council’s request and agreed to…
This report provides a trend analysis of indicators that measure the financial health and performance of ten major local government pension funds from 1998 to 2007, the most recent year for which audited data are available. It finds that unfunded liabilities for the ten funds climbed even during years of good investment returns, increasing from $4.8 to $17.1 billion in ten years, and makes numerous recommendations on legislative actions that should be taken to slow the downward spiral of…
This report reviews best practices in the composition of public pension boards of trustees nationwide, and makes recommendations on improvements to pension boards in Illinois.
