As state and local governments continue to press Congress for more pandemic recovery funds, disputes are springing up across the country about the disbursement of federal aid that is currently available. A controversy in Illinois has centered on the use of federal relief funds that the State is distributing to counties and municipalities. Local governments in Illinois are eligible to receive a total of $250 million from the State’s share of the federal Coronavirus Relief Fund. The money can be…
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a devastating impact on state budgets, with tax revenue shortfalls estimated to total about $200 billion for fiscal years 2020 and 2021 compared with initial projections.[1] What actions are states taking to deal with these financial losses? Illinois’ FY2021 budget relies on borrowing to close a $6.6 billion deficit. However, Governor J.B. Pritzker hopes to avoid most of the borrowing if Congress can be persuaded to provide states with sufficient funding to offset…
Since the federal government provided $139 billion of coronavirus relief funds to states and large cities and counties in April, smaller localities have been waiting to receive some of the money. Now large governments, including Cook County, are taking steps to share the funds. On July 8, Illinois’ biggest county announced plans to distribute about $51 million to local governments beginning as soon as later this month. That represents about 12% of the $429 million allocated to Cook County from…
Since the Civic Federation published a blog on short-term debt in Illinois on May 22, 2020, there have been two significant updates to report. Illinois Issues $1.2 Billion in Short Term Debt via the Federal Reserve’s Municipal Liquidity Facility As noted in a recent Civic Federation blog on the Illinois State budget, the State plans to rely on short-term cash flow borrowing from the Federal Reserve Bank’s Municipal Liquidity Facility (MLF) to balance its FY2020 and FY2021 budgets. The State…
When Illinois lawmakers met in Springfield to pass a budget for the upcoming fiscal year, the main issue they confronted was the tax shortfall caused by COVID-19. They did not want to include revenue from a proposed graduated income tax, which will only be available if voters approve the plan in November 2020. Instead, the $43 billion budget passed on May 24 depends on $5 billion in borrowing through a new Federal Reserve program and about $1.2 billion in other debt. While the federal loans…
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…
UPDATE: On May 5, Illinois delayed the planned sale of $1.2 billion of short-term debt as it faces steep interest penalties from investors due to the coronavirus crisis. The sale was tentatively scheduled for May 6, but now the timing will depend on market conditions. Proceeds of the sale are intended to be used to help close the revenue gap described below in the State’s FY2020 budget. Illinois has the lowest credit rating of any state and is poorly positioned to face dramatic revenue declines…
A Commission of the Illinois Supreme Court tasked with making recommendations for comprehensive pretrial reform in Illinois released its final report earlier this month. The Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Pretrial Practices makes recommendations that cover pretrial procedures from arrest to bail setting and supervision orders. Among the 54 recommendations included in the report, the Commission recommends the creation of a statewide validated pretrial risk assessment to help judges…
The $2.2 trillion economic relief legislation passed by Congress in late March contains significant new funding for States and large local governments. Exactly how the money will be split appears to have caused considerable confusion in Illinois and elsewhere. The Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act provides a total of $150 billion in federal aid through the Coronavirus Relief Fund. After setting aside $11 billion for tribal governments, U.S. territories and the District…
Like most states that levy income taxes, Illinois has followed the federal government in extending the deadline for filing and paying income taxes due for 2019 by three months. The extension—from April 15 to July 15—is intended to provide relief to individuals and businesses hit by the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, but it is also expected to further strain Illinois’ ability to pay its bills. The Illinois Comptroller’s Office has estimated that more than $1 billion in State…
