For the second year in a row, the State of Illinois raised funds in the municipal bond market to make its annual pension contributions. On February 23, 2011, the State finalized the sale of $3.7 billion worth of Pension Obligation Bonds (POB) for FY2011. Similar to its FY2010 POB sale, Illinois’ bonds that sold last week were also oversubscribed, meaning more orders were placed for the bonds than the available supply. The State’s bond underwriters received $6.1 billion in orders for the…
On Saturday February 26th, the Cook County Board of Commissioners unanimously approved the FY2011 Annual Appropriations Ordinance. In the Civic Federation’s analysis of the Executive Budget Recommendation, the Federation supported Board President Preckwinkle’s budget plan and commended the administration for its efforts to reform governmental operations. The amended budget as approved by the Board made some changes from the President’s Recommendation, including the following: Sales Tax Rollback…
This article discusses the Cook County Board of Commissioners vote to rollback the remaining portion of the 2008 penny sales tax increase by 2013. The Civic Federation says that the tax increase was established without a solid plan for how to use the revenue.
In this segment on Swiss Public Radio (in German) about Rahm Emanuel’s mayoral campaign, Civic Federation President Laurence Msall talks about the financial challenges the next mayor of Chicago must face.
This article discusses the City of Chicago mayoral election. It mentions that the Civic Federation’s “Financial Challenges for the New Mayor of Chicago” report is worth reading for information about the precarious condition of the City’s finances.
This article about the City of Chicago mayoral race and the challenges the next mayor will face cites a Civic Federation report that found that Chicago area governments’ unfunded pension liabilities total about $23 billion.
In this article about the market for Illinois bonds, the Civic Federation says that the State’s plan to borrow money to pay into its pension system is too expensive and that the State should consider cutting its costs if it cannot pay its pension contributions.
Civic Federation President Laurence Msall talks about the issues facing the next mayor of the City of Chicago in this news segment.
This segment discusses Rahm Emanuel’s mayoral campaign. It cites the warning in the Civic Federation’s “Financial Challenges for the New Mayor of Chicago” report that the City of Chicago’s finances are in precarious shape. Civic Federation President Laurence Msall adds that the City will likely need a combination of pension reforms, tax increases and cuts to fix its budgetary troubles.
In order to pay income tax refunds owed to taxpayers, the State of Illinois sets aside a percentage of income tax receipts received throughout the year and deposits them into a special fund. Different percentages apply to individuals and businesses, but all refunds are paid from the same fund—the Income Tax Refund Fund. These percentages are known as Refund Fund rates. The higher the Refund Fund rates, the more money deposited into the fund and the less revenue available for the State’s…
