While Illinois lawmakers remain gridlocked over a State budget plan, another area shows promise of compromise in Springfield: government consolidation. With over 6,900 local government units, Illinois has more units of government than any other state. The multiplicity of local units of government, many of which are funded predominantly by property taxes, is often cited as a reason for high property tax rates in Illinois. The issue of government consolidation receives bipartisan support by…
The Cook County Circuit Court recently ruled that the City of Chicago cannot tax other tobacco products according to Illinois state law. The City’s home rule tax on these products was expected to bring in $6.0 million in revenue. Other tobacco products (OTP) include the following non-cigarette tobacco products: Cigars; Pipe Tobacco; Smokeless Tobacco; and Smoking Tobacco. The Chicago City Council adopted an Other Tobacco Products (OTP) Tax Ordinance on March 16, 2016 and the tax was…
The Cook County Board of Commissioners has reorganized its board meeting proceedings in an effort to streamline board meetings. Beginning in January 2017, the Consent Calendar portion of the meeting is now held on the second Tuesday of each month rather than the second Wednesday when County Board meetings are generally held. The change is intended to reduce excessively long meetings. The Consent Calendar is a compilation of resolutions concerning deaths, anniversaries and congratulations for…
Each year the Civic Federation releases an Estimated Effective Property Tax Rates report for 28 selected municipalities in northeastern Illinois. The most recent report looked at effective tax rates through tax year 2014 (for taxes paid in 2015), which was the most recent complete data available. This blog post shows how to calculate your municipality’s 2014 effective tax rate. How do I calculate my effective property tax rate? To find out what the effective tax rate is for residential…
Click here to read the full report. This annual report compares estimated effective property tax rates in the six-county region of northeastern Illinois between 2005 and 2014, the last year for which data are available. Among the 12 selected Cook County communities, the Civic Federation found Harvey had the highest 2014 effective tax rate for residential properties at 7.71% in tax year 2014, and Chicago had the lowest effective tax rate for residential property at 1.56% and the…
The following are the five most read posts presented by the Civic Federation blog in 2016. These posts examine issues ranging from local government consolidation to pension funding reform. Cook County Electorate to Vote on Referendum to Merge the Recorder of Deeds with the County Clerk July 20, 2016 This post highlights an initiative long supported by the Civic Federation to merge the offices of the Cook County Clerk and the Cook County Recorder of Deeds. On June 29, 2016 the Cook…
The Civic Federation recently released its second report that examines the unincorporated areas in Cook County. In the report, the Civic Federation identified a number of issues surrounding unincorporated areas that residents, municipalities, local governments, businesses and other stakeholders identified during the interviews conducted by the Federation. In addition to the formal interviews conducted with various stakeholders, Civic Federation staff also contacted individual townships,…
On November 8, 2016, the Cook County electorate voted on the binding referendum to merge the Office of the Cook County Recorder of Deeds and the Office of the Cook County Clerk. The Cook County Board of Commissioners voted in June 2016 to present the referendum question to Cook County residents on the general election ballot. The merging of the offices will take place by December 7, 2020. Of the 1.5 million registered voters in suburban Cook County, just over one million cast ballots on the…
The Civic Federation supports Cook County’s proposed FY2017 budget of $4.4 billion because it is reasonable, including expenditure reductions and revenue measures that will balance the County’s budgets through FY2019. The FY2017 budget includes a number of initiatives to close a preliminary deficit of $174.3 million. The full report also discusses Federation support for the realignment of staff positions within the Health System, the County’s reasonable pension funding plan, reduction of debt…
The Civic Federation recently released a report that examines unincorporated areas in Cook County. This report builds on an earlier report released by the Civic Federation in 2014 by providing a comprehensive analysis of all unincorporated areas in Cook County as well as recommendations to assist the County in eliminating unincorporated areas. In the report, the Civic Federation presents findings on the cost of the County providing municipal-type services in unincorporated areas compared to…
