The three largest municipal governments analyzed by the Civic Federation are the Chicago Public Schools (CPS), the City of Chicago and Cook County. All three began their FY2011 budget processes projecting large budget shortfalls: CPS projected a gap of $370 million, the City of Chicago projected a gap of $655 million and Cook County projected a gap of $487 million.[1] These budget shortfalls were primarily the result of existing structural imbalances that were exacerbated by declines in…
General Funds represent the largest component of the State of Illinois budget and are mainly used to support the regular operating and administrative expenses of state agencies through annual appropriations by the General Assembly.[1] General Funds are also diverted to Other State Funds to make debt service payments on bonds and for a wide range of other legislatively required transfers—from distributing state income taxes to local governments to promoting thoroughbred breeding and racing.…
The Civic Federation analyzes the budgets of nine Chicago area local governments. One important indicator that the Federation utilizes to assess the financial health of these municipalities is their fund balance level. In particular, we examine the balance within the general fund that does not have any external legal restriction, called the unrestricted fund balance. Fund balance differs from net assets typically reported by business enterprises in that it includes only a subset of assets and…
In this interview, Civic Federation President Laurence Msall and Chicago 32nd Ward Alderman Scott Waguespack discuss Chicago Mayor-elect Rahm Emanuel’s proposal to reduce the size of the Chicago City Council. Mr. Msall says that the City’s enormous fiscal troubles require drastic moves to improve delivery of City services.
This article profiles the fiscal troubles facing Illinois Governor Pat Quinn as he tries to balance the State’s budget. It cites the Civic Federation’s finding that per-capita state debt has tripled since 2001 and may nearly double if the State approves new borrowing.
Although it includes deep cuts to some agencies and programs, the FY2012 budget proposed by Governor Pat Quinn includes increases in other areas that would more than offset the reductions. In all, the proposed budget for FY2012 would increase General Funds appropriations for agency operations by more than $1.0 billion. General Funds appropriations make up the majority of the State’s operating budget and are the part over which the Governor and legislature have the most discretion. Total…
Cook County plans to reduce financial assistance to its Health and Hospitals System by nearly 33% this year, from $411.5 million in FY2010 to $276.3 million in FY2011. The County will face major challenges related to the Health System’s budget and Medicaid revenues. The Health System’s subsidy from the County consists mainly of tax revenues used to bridge the gap between the System’s operating revenues and expenditures. The System’s operating revenues come mostly from Medicaid, the federal-…
In this blog post, Greg Hinz discusses the conclusions of the Civic Federation's "Cook County Modernization 100-Day Accountability Report." The Federation found that administration of County Board President Toni Preckwinkle has made considerable progress in modernizing operations, but still faces significant challenges over the next few years.
This article details reactions to Mayor-Elect Rahm Emanuel's suggestion that the City of Chicago consider reducing the number of aldermen in the City Council from 50 to 25. The Civic Federation is quoted saying that most other major U.S. cities function with far fewer council members and notes that with the City facing difficult fiscal challenges, aldermen as well as citizens and city employees will have to share in the sacrifice.
The Cook County Modernization 100-Day Accountability Report is a follow up report to the Civic Federation’s October 2010 Cook County Modernization Report. The new publication assesses the progress the County has made toward implementing the recommendations contained in the October report during the first 100 days of Board President Preckwinkle’s administration. As previously discussed in this blog, the County has made very significant progress, but is far from being able to be declared stable…
