Unincorporated areas lie outside municipal boundaries. The residents and businesses located in these areas are usually provided municipal services such as police protection and building code enforcement by county government or special districts. Because unincorporated areas may be scattered throughout a county’s territory, the provision of these services by counties has been inefficient and costly. Annexation of unincorporated areas to neighboring municipalities is often proposed as a solution…
Cook County is a home rule government with three primary responsibilities: collecting tax and fee revenue, protecting public health through the administration of a public health and hospital system and ensuring public safety and justice through the operation of a jail and court system. The main divisions of the public safety system in Cook County include the Chief Judge, Clerk of the Circuit Court, Public Defender, Sheriff, State’s Attorney, Public Administrator, Department of Facilities…
A recent report by the Illinois Supreme Court raises significant concerns about Cook County’s pretrial services. The Cook County Pretrial Services Department (PSD) was established in 1990 to address a host of concerns, not the least of which was overcrowding. While inmate crowding at the Cook County Jail first garnered major media and legislative attention in the 1960s and 1970s and culminated in a federal consent decree in 1974, the County’s jail capacity problems go back much further. Since…
On December 11, 2013, the City Council approved an ordinance to establish the City Council Office of Financial Analysis (COFA), modeled on the independent agencies established in the cities of New York, San Diego and Pittsburgh. The Civic Federation commends the City Council, legislation sponsors Alderman Ameya Pawar, Alderman Michelle Smith and Alderman Pat Dowell, Budget Committee Chairman Carrie Austin and Mayor Rahm Emanuel for working together to give the City Council the tools and…
According to the latest legislative report on gaming in Illinois, total casino revenues have recovered since the opening of the State’s tenth riverboat casino in 2012 after several years of decline. However, State tax revenues from casino gaming remain stagnant despite the improvement. The annual report from the Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability (COGFA) on wagering revenues and the corresponding taxes generated in Illinois was published earlier this month and includes…
On March 14, the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago and the Civic Federation hosted a half-day conference on the subject of public-private partnerships (P3s) to provide state and local governments with actionable ideas on alternatives to their current delivery of services. To download materials and presentations from the conference, please visit this link. The conference started with a welcome from William Testa, Vice President and Director of Regional Research at the Federal Reserve Bank of…
On Wednesday October 12th, Mayor Emanuel will release his first budget recommendations for the City of Chicago. With a reported FY2012 budget gap of $635.7 million to close in the Corporate Fund, the proposed budget is likely to address costs in the largest component of the City’s operating budget: public safety. With regard to dollars appropriated, personnel expenditures and workforce size, the largest portion of the City of Chicago’s budget is dedicated to the Police Department, Fire…
Today marks the 100th day since Toni Preckwinkle took office as President of the Cook County Board of Commissioners. During that time, the County has begun to implement a variety of reforms including many of the recommendations from the Civic Federation’s Cook County Modernization Report. The administration released a 100-day report card this morning, which highlights what the administration considers to be its key accomplishments. The Civic Federation began its Cook County Modernization…
There are over 3200 public pension board trustees governing 657 separate public pension funds in the State of Illinois according to data from the Illinois Department of Insurance.[1] These trustees have fiduciary responsibility for $135.7 billion dollars in assets, and paid out $10.5 billion in benefits to 386,975 beneficiaries in 2008.[2] These pension funds can have as few as five or as many as thirteen trustees. Of the 657 pension funds, 644 are police or firefighter funds (352 police…
Governor Pat Quinn has decided that the State of Illinois will shut down its troubled Howe Developmental Center in Tinley Park and move residents to other quarters by April 2010. The decision, announced on August 28, 2009, came four months after the General Assembly’s Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability on April 28 backed a recommendation by the Illinois Department of Human Services that Howe be closed. The decision also came after a consultant hired by the Governor…
