The Civic Federation’s analysis of the City of Chicago’s FY2011 proposed budget is the subject of this article. It focuses on the Federation’s opposition to Mayor Daley’s reliance on funds from asset leases to balance the City’s budget.
This article discusses the City of Chicago’s announcement that it will delay the sale of $800 million in general obligation bonds. The Civic Federation says the City faces major fiscal challenges and that its FY2011 proposed budget does not adequately address its structural deficit.
This article discusses Chicago Parking Meters LLC’s announcement that it will sell $600 million in bonds amid news that the City of Chicago’s finances are in a precarious condition. The article mentions that the Civic Federation opposed the City’s FY2011 proposed budget because it relies too heavily on reserve funds and the restructuring of debt and does not adequately address the City’s structural deficit.
After experiencing several years of poor market conditions, three of the five Illinois State employee retirement funds have reduced their expected rate of return on investments. This rate, also known as the discount rate, is used to calculate the present value of the future obligations of the systems. Although the reductions were small, one percentage point or less, the move triggers a substantial increase in the present value of the commitments made by the State to its employees and…
As explained in its recent analysis of the State of Illinois FY2011 proposed budget, the Civic Federation opposes the practice of supplying money to the State’s pension funds through borrowing. Pensions are an annual operating expense and the use of debt to fund them is not sustainable, adding to the State’s mounting debt service burden and increasing future pressures on the operating budget. On Thursday the Civic Federation sent a letter to members of the Illinois General Assembly urging them…
Today the Civic Federation released its analysis of the City of Chicago’s proposed FY2011 budget of nearly $6.2 billion. The Federation has a number of serious concerns about the City’s budget proposal, which forecasts a $654.8 million deficit. A detailed listing of those reservations can be found on page 7 of the analysis. Chief among those concerns is the City’s continued structural deficit, which is a condition characterized by annual expenditure increases that consistently outpace recurring…
The Civic Federation opposes the proposed FY2011 City of Chicago budget of nearly $6.2 billion because it does not effectively address the structural deficit and relies too heavily on asset lease reserve funds and debt restructuring to close the $654.8 million budget deficit. The proposed budget would defer costs and postpone changes needed to align current year expenditures with recurring revenues. Click here to read the press release for this analysis.
The Civic Federation announced today that it opposes the $6.2 billion FY2011 City of Chicago budget because it does not do enough to address the City’s structural deficit. Instead it relies upon long-term asset lease funds and other non-recurring revenues to close a $654.8 million shortfall. The Federation urges the City Council to reduce spending to avoid further deterioration of the City’s financial condition. The full 80-plus page analysis of the budget is available at www.civicfed.org. The…
An issue in this year’s election campaign for Illinois Governor has concerned the State’s budgetary trends since FY2009. Different conclusions can be reached depending on which numbers are included in the analysis. Counting pension contributions, debt service and legislatively required transfers yields different results. In the table below, the top line shows enacted General Funds appropriations. General Funds support the regular operating and administrative expenses of most state agencies and…
In this blog post, Greg Hinz examines some of the recommendations in the Civic Federation’s Cook County Modernization Report.
