The Civic Federation released its annual analysis of the City of Chicago’s proposed budget this week. Included in the report was a section dedicated to the budgetary impact of the City’s four pension funds and evaluating trends in their funded status. This blog post reproduces that chapter for readers who might not otherwise see it. Pensions in the FY2022 City of Chicago Budget The City of Chicago’s four pension funds are severely underfunded. A combination of statutory underfunding, benefit…
Concerns remain regarding pension funding and sustainability Click here to read the full report. Click here to view the landing page for this analysis. CHICAGO – In a report released today, the Civic Federation expressed its support for Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s proposed FY2022 budget of $10.6 billion, because it leverages federal COVID-relief funding to balance the budget, maintain service levels and make needed investments in infrastructure. While supporting the spending package…
Click here to read the full report. Click here to read the press release for this analysis. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The Civic Federation supports Mayor Lightfoot’s proposed FY2022 budget of $10.6 billion for all local funds (excluding grants and capital). The City of Chicago is in a much better financial position now than a year ago thanks to significant federal COVID-19 relief funding that has allowed the City to continue operating at full service levels, accommodate pay raises negotiated in…
The City of Chicago has released a FY2021-FY2025 Capital Improvement Program (CIP).[1] The purpose of a CIP is to establish priorities that balance capital needs with available resources, pair capital projects with funding sources, help ensure orderly repair and maintenance of capital assets and provide an estimate of the size and timing of future debt issuance. The first year of a CIP is the capital budget for that fiscal year. Developing a CIP is an important financial accountability…
The fiscal year 2022 budget for the State of Illinois and the process that created it showed the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, but also the beginnings of a recovery within the State economy. Unlike the FY2021 budget, the spending plan for FY2022 does not rely on federal borrowing and instead includes provisions to pay off the previous year’s remaining Municipal Liquidity Facility (MLF) borrowing early. It was also buoyed by better-than-expected revenue projections and significant…
Click here to read the full report (PDF). Click here to read the press release for this analysis. SUMMARY The Civic Federation supports the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) proposed budget of $9.3 billion for FY2022 because it is balanced and supported by federal COVID-19 relief funding. CPS, along with all other state and local government agencies in the United States, has for the past year endured a once-in-a-century crisis and pandemic and related economic and educational disruption. Despite…
Spending plan bolstered by significant short-term federal support; Federation reiterates call for longer-term plans Click here to visit the report landing page. CHICAGO – In an analysis released today, the Civic Federation expressed its support for the Chicago Public Schools’ proposed fiscal year 2022 budget. The $9.3 billion one-year spending plan is balanced and includes federal funding to help the District recover from economic and other impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. “After several…
On June 24, 2021, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle issued a preliminary budget forecast for fiscal year 2022. The fiscal year begins December 1, 2021 and ends November 30, 2022. The report provides end-of-year estimates for the current 2021 fiscal year and a forecast for the upcoming 2022 fiscal year in the County’s operating funds. The operating funds include the General Fund, which accounts for administrative and public safety operations, and Health Fund, which accounts for the…
On April 21, 2021, the City of Chicago adopted Substitute Ordinance 2020-5902, which requires the Department of Finance to publish monthly reports of Corporate Fund revenues. This amendment to the Municipal Code also requires the Department to coordinate with the City’s Office of Management and Budget to collect revenue data and produce a report comparing current revenues to budgeted revenues and the previous year revenues for the same period by category. The ordinance instructs the Department…
Click here to read the full report. Click here to read the press release for this analysis. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The Civic Federation considers the Governor’s FY2022 budget recommendation to be a reasonable one-year short term response to pandemic-stressed financial and economic situation. It has many positive elements, such as holding most areas of agency spending flat at a time of uncertain revenues and it makes the full statutorily required pension payment. In addition, it appropriately…
