More than three weeks into fiscal year 2016, the State of Illinois continues to operate without an annual budget. Despite the lack of a budget, members of the General Assembly are reportedly in line to get pay raises of about 2%, or at least $1,300 each, for the year that began on July 1, 2015. The reasons are complicated and relate to prior legal disputes between Illinois governors and the executive and judicial branches of State government. As a result of previous court rulings and statutory…
The State of Illinois’ new fiscal year began on July 1, 2015 without an annual budget and with no clear end in sight to the impasse between Governor Bruce Rauner and the General Assembly. On July 9, the legislature was widely expected to send the Governor a stopgap budget designed to fund essential State operations for one month. However, that effort stalled amid a partisan dispute about paying for State workers’ salaries. This blog post reviews the circumstances leading up to the current…
The Illinois General Assembly has approved a $36.3 billion general operating budget for the upcoming fiscal year with an acknowledged shortfall of at least $3.0 billion in revenues. The package of approximately 20 appropriation bills and other budget-related legislation was passed during the last week in May, at the end of the legislature’s regular spring session. But amid an impasse with Governor Bruce Rauner, the General Assembly has not officially transmitted the FY2016 budget to the…
UPDATE: Subsequent to the publication of this blog, House Bill 777 was amended to include provisions of the City’s proposal to extend the amortization of its Police and Fire pension funding through 2055 instead of 2040 as under current law. The legislation includes a 90% target for the systems’ funding ratios and a five-year ramp of lower payments leading into the new contribution schedule. _________________________________________________________________________________________…
An Illinois Supreme Court decision overturning legislation to reduce the State’s massive pension costs will add to the difficulty of creating a balanced operating budget for the year that begins on July 1, 2015. The high court struck down the law on May 8, ruling that it violated the Illinois Constitution by cutting benefits for retirees and employees. The 2013 legislation reduced annual benefit increases, raised retirement ages for younger workers and capped the salary on which pension…
The Civic Federation opposes Governor Bruce Rauner’s recommended budget for FY2016 because it relies heavily on projected savings that do not appear to be achievable or prudent in light of the State of Illinois’ obligations and long-term policy objectives. Savings of $2.2 billion related to a new pension reform proposal are assumed to be realized in the budget, even though this proposal has not been introduced as legislation in the Illinois General Assembly and is likely to face legal…
A week after passing legislation to address a $1.6 billion budget deficit before the end of the fiscal year in June, the State swept $300 million into its operating accounts from funds designated to pay for annual transportation construction projects. An additional $200 million sweep of sales tax funds collected by the State to be distributed to local governments has yet to be transferred over to the State’s General Funds. As previously discussed here, Governor Bruce Rauner and the General…
The State of Illinois recently enacted legislation designed to close a $1.6 billion budget gap for the fiscal year ending on June 30, 2015. This blog post reviews the causes of the operating deficit and examines Public Acts 99-0001 and 99-0002, which were signed by Governor Bruce Rauner on March 27. As explained here, the State faced a steep decline in revenues in FY2015 because of the partial rollback of temporary income tax rate increases on January 1, 2015, midway through the fiscal…
The Civic Federation has long supported sensible legislation aimed at improving the efficiency and effectiveness of government operations in Illinois. The purpose of this blog is to summarize briefly consolidation legislation and initiatives that have been proposed since our last update on this topic in September 2014. Local Government Consolidation and Unfunded Mandates Task Force One of Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner’s first actions upon taking office was Executive Order 15-15, which…
Under federal bankruptcy law, State governments decide whether and how local governments have access to Chapter 9 bankruptcy. There are 12 states that allow their local governments unfettered access to municipal bankruptcy, 12 states that allow municipal bankruptcy under certain conditions, two states that specifically prohibit their local governments from filing bankruptcy, 21 states that are unclear or do not have specific authorization and three states with only very limited authorization.…
