On January 13, 2011, the Civic Federation sent this letter to Governor Quinn urging him to sign Senate Bill 3778. Click here to read a Civic Federation blog post on the bill. Dear Governor Quinn: The Civic Federation urges you to sign Senate Bill 3778, a bill that will end the Seniors Ride Free program. This program has strained the resources of public transit agencies while allowing seniors who can afford to pay their fair share the ability to ride for free. SB3778 will limit free rides…
On February 14 Governor Quinn signed into law Public Act 096-1527 which effectively ended the Seniors Ride Free program instituted by former Governor Rod Blagojevich and restricts free ride eligibility only to low-income seniors. The Civic Federation commends the Governor and General Assembly for taking this action. As detailed in the blog post below, the Seniors Ride Free program has proven to be a major revenue drain for transit agencies across Illinois. As this article reports, transit…
As part of the Cook County Modernization Report, the Civic Federation examined the County’s revenue and tax structure. Cook County is the only county in Illinois to have home rule status, which gives it considerable taxing flexibility. One of the report’s key revenue findings is that there has been a significant change in Cook County’s tax revenue structure. Nationwide, property taxes are the largest source of own-source revenues for counties.[1] Historically, the property tax has been…
This editorial says the State of Illinois should cut spending before searching for additional sources of revenue. It cites the Civic Federation’s “Fiscal Rehabilitation Plan for the State of Illinois.”
In this news segment about plans to increase the State of Illinois income tax in order to balance its budget, Civic Federation President Laurence Msall says that any tax increase must be part of a long-term fiscal plan.
This segment of the “Marketplace” program discusses the effect the State of Illinois budget gap has had on its fiscal outlook. Civic Federation President Laurence Msall says the State has not properly funded its pension system, which could be expected to run out of money in 10 to 15 years.
Over the course of 2010 the IIFS blog explored a number of State of Illinois budget topics ranging from Medicaid/HMO funding issues to the State public pension system. Posts on the IIFS blog not only supplement IIFS publications, but also provide additional context and commentary to events in the news and State budget events. Posts about the State Medicaid system featured prominently on the IIFS blog. “Opposition Surfaces to Medicaid HMO Plan” from January 21, 2010 discussed resistance…
In 2010 the Civic Federation blog provided comprehensive information about government and fiscal issues across Illinois for the public, government officials and media. In a range of posts on topics from the effect Public Act 96-0889 would have on local government pension systems to explaining nuances of the Cook County property tax system, the Federation blog offered rapid-response commentary on current events and original research that accompanied the Federation’s publications. Issues…
Congress appears to have sealed the fate of the federal Build America Bond (BAB) subsidy by not including renewal of the program in the package of unemployment benefits and tax incentives authorized last week. Now with less than two weeks left before the program is set to expire on December 31, 2010, many governments are rushing to market with last minute bond sales to take advantage of the hefty federal subsidy. Originally enacted as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of…
State and local governments utilize fund accounting in order to demonstrate accountability and compliance with rules, laws and regulations.[1] For example, Cook County has a multitude of funds including a Public Safety Fund, Health Fund, an Annuity and Benefit Fund, a Bond and Interest Fund and a variety of special funds. These funds help demonstrate how much the County is spending on an activity and how it is utlizing restricted revenues. The paradox of fund accounting is while it is intended…
