Chicago-area public employee pension funding levels dropped significantly in FY2011, with unfunded liabilities for the ten funds analyzed rising to $32.0 billion from $27.4 billion in FY2010, an increase of 16.7% according to the most recent audited data available. For all pension funds supported by the taxes of Chicago residents, including statewide funds, the total unfunded liabilities reached $16,914 per Chicago resident in FY2011. On average, the ten funds analyzed had an actuarial funding…
The Illinois Department of Revenue has announced that the final equalization factor for the Cook County 2012 property assessment year (taxes payable in 2013) is 2.8056. The 2012 final equalization factor of 2.8056 is less than the final 2011 equalization factor of 2.9706. This does not mean that property taxes will go up or down. It means that, overall, the weighted average level of assessment[1] in Cook County for all types of property averaged over the past three years has increased to a…
This blog reviews the 2012 4th Quarter STAR (Set Targets Achieve Results) report for Cook County’s performance management program. The blog compares FY2012 targeted expenditures and FY2012 actual costs as reported by participating County departments. In its 2010 Cook County Modernization Report, the Civic Federation recommended that performance measures be incorporated into the budgeting and management process. In January 2011 Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle introduced the…
The State of Illinois has asked the federal government to extend Cook County’s Medicaid expansion plan to ensure that recipients remain covered after the end of 2013. In a letter on March 21, 2013, the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services (HFS) told federal authorities that it still expects the State to pass legislation allowing Illinois to expand its entire Medicaid program beginning in January 2014. HFS stated that it was requesting an extension for the Cook County plan as a…
This blog examines some of the long-term obligations of the City of Chicago and its overlapping local governments using a per capita indicator based on bonded debt and unfunded pension liabilities. Rating agencies and other financial analysts commonly monitor overlapping direct debt trends as an affordability indicator when governments consider debt issuance. The indicator reflects the premise that the entire population of a jurisdiction benefits from and bears the cost of infrastructure…
This report compares effective property tax rates in selected communities around metropolitan Chicago and finds that effective tax rates in 2010 for residential and commercial properties rose for each of the 32 municipalities studied. Additionally, effective tax rates in 2010 were higher than they were 10 years ago for all communities studied, except for industrial properties in Chicago, which were down by 15.1% since 2001. Between 2009 and 2010 commercial effective tax rates in each of the 12…
On July 1, 2008, a one percent sales tax increase went into effect in Cook County raising the home-rule tax from 0.75% to 1.75%. The increase brought the City of Chicago’s composite sales tax rate on general merchandise to 10.25%, the highest rate among major U.S. cities.[1]The increase was the result of political negotiations between then-Cook County Board President Todd Stroger, who originally proposed a 2% sales tax increase with his FY2008 budget, and the Cook County Board of Commissioners…
A look back at the Civic Federation’s blog this year provides a preview of upcoming fiscal challenges for local governments in 2013. Pension Funding The most urgent fiscal challenge for Illinois governments continues to be the pension funding crisis. The combined funded ratio for the four City of Chicago pension funds fell to 43.3% in FY2011. The funded status of the Cook County Pension Fund also fell in FY2011 to 57.5%. The County’s fund was over 90% funded as recently as FY2000. The…
Last week the Civic Federation marked the end of the FY2013 budget season with a blog that summarized the proposed budgets for the nine local governments the Federation monitors. These governments include: the City Colleges of Chicago, Chicago Public Schools (CPS), DuPage County, City of Chicago, Cook County, Chicago Transit Authority (CTA), Forest Preserve District of Cook County, Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago (MWRD) and Chicago Park District. This blog focuses on…
Last week marked the end of the budget season for the nine local governments monitored by the Civic Federation. These governments include: the City Colleges of Chicago, Chicago Public Schools (CPS), DuPage County, City of Chicago, Cook County, Chicago Transit Authority (CTA), Forest Preserve District of Cook County, Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago (MWRD) and Chicago Park District. This blog provides a summary the proposed FY2013 budgets and how appropriations have…
