This article about the State of Illinois’ possible plans to borrow to make its required pension contribution cites a Civic Federation blog post “New Pension Borrowing Could Stress State Budget Through 2019.”
In this article about the City of Chicago’s FY2011 budget, the Civic Federation says the City’s short-sighted budgeting has had a major effect on the City’s costs of borrowing.
The Civic Federation’s Cost of the Crisis report is cited in this article about the State of Illinois’ plan to issue bonds backed by Illinois’ share of the 1998 tobacco settlement.
This article discusses a proposal by the family that owns the Chicago Cubs to have the State of Illinois borrow $300 million in a bond deal to make improvements to Wrigley Field. The Civic Federation says that such a deal should be approached with caution as the State is already under enormous fiscal pressure.
The Civic Federation's legislative priorities for 2011 include public pension reform, requiring state government to develop and implement a capital improvement plan, the dissolving of the Illinois International Port District, creating a new governing board for the Cook County Forest Preserve District, reinstating means-tested transit discounts for seniors, requiring large counties to hold budget hearings and produce timely annual audits, enacting tax increment financing reporting reform,…
When the General Assembly reconvenes next week for its annual veto session, it is expected to continue deliberating whether to borrow in FY2011 to make its required pension payment. If approved, the borrowing plan would lighten the load on the already stressed General Funds of the State but would lead to dramatically higher debt service payments for almost a decade. This would be the second year in a row that the State issued pension related debt rather than make its required payment to the…
Last week the Civic Federation described the City of Chicago’s structural deficit in our budget analysis and a blog post. One of the primary sources of funding that has allowed the City to finance this deficit has been revenues from the long-term leases of the Skyway and the metered parking system to private operators. The Civic Federation generally opposes using the one-time funding received from these public-private partnerships for operating expenses. The City of Chicago now finds…
This article discusses findings in the Civic Federation’s analysis of DuPage County’s FY2011 proposed budget.
In this news segment, Civic Federation President Laurence Msall explains why the Civic Federation opposes the City of Chicago’s FY2011 budget. Mr. Msall explains that the City needs major pension fund reforms and must not rely on one-time revenues from asset lease deals to balance its budgets.
This article discusses recommendations in the Civic Federation’s “Cook County Modernization Report.”
