(CHICAGO) The Civic Federation’s Illinois research institute warns that a large tax increase alone has not fixed the state’s broken budget. The Federation’s new FY2012 Budget Roadmap, released ahead of Governor Quinn’s budget address, analyzes the state’s current fiscal position, critiques Governor Quinn’s three-year budget plan and provides recommendations to improve the state’s finances. The full 44-page report is available at www.civicfed.org/iifs. “The Civic Federation opposes Governor…
Prior to the release of the Governor’s annual budget recommendation the Institute for Illinois’ Fiscal Sustainability at the Civic Federation releases an analysis of the State of Illinois’ fiscal condition and actionable recommendations for the Governor and General Assembly for the coming fiscal year. This year the State of Illinois Budget Roadmap also includes an analysis and recommendations based on Governor Pat Quinn’s preliminary budget plans for FY2011 and three-year budget plan published…
This report identifies the most significant financial challenges facing the City of Chicago and provides recommendations to the new Mayor of Chicago for ways to improve and stabilize the City’s finances in the short- and long-term. Those challenges include addressing the City’s significant budget deficit expected to be at least $500 million for FY2012, a growing bonded debt load, and crisis-ridden employee pensions. Click here to read the press release for this report. For more information…
The new Mayor of the City of Chicago faces three major fiscal challenges that will require the immediate attention of the new administration, according to a new report released today by the Civic Federation. The daunting difficulties include addressing the City’s significant structural budget deficit, a growing bonded debt load and crisis-ridden employee pensions. The Federation’s report includes both short- and long-term recommendations the new Mayor should implement to close a FY2012 budget…
This article is about City of Chicago mayoral candidate Rahm Emanuel’s plans to fix the City’s budget gap and pension funding issues. The Civic Federation says the City’s financial condition is precarious and the next mayor will need to make some tough choices.
In this article about the City of Chicago’s plan to incur debt to pay City firefighters back pay, the Civic Federation says that borrowing funds to pay for operating costs is expensive and demonstrates a lack of financial planning.
This article examines the City of Chicago Inspector General’s revelation that unpaid furlough days taken by City employees to help bridge a City budget gap may have also contributed to a shortchanging of the City’s pension systems. The Civic Federation says the City has a very short-term fiscal outlook, which creates challenges for the next Mayor and City Council.
Illinois’ budgetary woes put it in the company of states such as California and Nevada that are suffering major economic consequences due to unsound fiscal policies and the current economic climate. However, other states, including those known for better fiscal management, are being forced to make tough choices to reconcile their budgets. The state of Texas, whose economic condition was described in a recent Pew Center on the States’ report as least similar to California’s, is facing a major…
The State of Illinois is anticipating a large increase in revenues from income tax rate increases approved in January and additional resources from borrowing to make its pension payment for the second year in a row. Even so, the Governor and General Assembly are considering borrowing billions more before the end of the fiscal year. The massive borrowing plan was introduced in the prior legislative session as Senate Bill 336 and has been reintroduced as Senate Bill 3 in the new 97th General…
The staff and President of the Forest Preserve District of Cook County filed a FY2011 proposed budget for review by the District’s governing board on October 6, 2010, almost three months before the start of the new fiscal year on January 1, 2011. Despite the staff’s timely preparation of a budget, the Board declined to review the proposal in October. Instead, a new budget was presented more than three weeks after the start of the new fiscal year on January 26, 2011 in order to reflect the…
