Cook County has accounted for all $429 million in Coronavirus Relief Fund (CRF) funding the County received through the federal CARES Act in 2020, according to a report presented by Cook County finance officials to the Cook County Board of Commissioners in January. The County received relief funds from the U.S. Treasury in April 2020 that could be used to cover eligible COVID-19-related expenses, which had to be spent by the end of the year in order to keep the full funding amount. Cook County…
In January 2021, Cook County issued $499.8 million in general obligation and revenue bonds. A total of $330.5 million was issued by the County in Series 2021A general obligation refunding bonds. These bonds will be used to refund the County’s outstanding Series 2010A and 2010G bonds [1]. The bonds being retired had an average interest rate of 5.2%, while the refunding bonds will carry a blended interest cost of 1.32%. The transaction will save Cook County approximately $104.1 million in…
Despite large revenue losses associated with the economic downturn caused by COVID-19, Cook County’s preliminary 2020 budget results for the fiscal year that ended on November 30, 2020 show a positive year-end balance. Based on the monthly report provided by the Cook County Bureau of Finance to the Cook County Board of Commissioners, the County expects to end the year with a positive balance of $154.7 million in the General Fund and $259.2 million in the Health Fund on a budgetary basis. This…
On January 21, 2021, the Civic Federation sent the following letter to Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, urging him to veto House Bill 2451. The bill would expand a 3% non-compounded automatic annual increase to Chicago firefighters’ pensions to all Tier 1 members. The bill passed over the opposition of the leadership of the City of Chicago during the recent lame duck session of the Illinois General Assembly and was not tied to any assistance to help Chicago pay for this benefit enhancement,…
The Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) released a $3.4 billion, five year FY2021-FY2025 capital plan in October 2020. The CTA prepares a multi-year, comprehensive capital improvement plan (CIP) at the same time as its annual operating budget. It is included in the operating budget book. The first year of the CIP is the capital budget for that fiscal year. The CTA capital budget for FY2021 is projected to be $995.4 million. This a 34.4%, or $522.9 million, decrease from the original FY2020 capital…
UPDATE: The $900 billion relief bill passed by Congress on December 21 did not provide more financial assistance for state and local governments, but it did extend for about one year the deadline for using the Coronavirus Relief Fund money discussed in this blog post. The spending deadline is now December 31, 2021 instead of December 30, 2020. State and local governments had been racing to use the money because unspent funds must be returned to the U.S. Treasury. Local governments in…
This blog post provides an update on the status of the City of Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport $8.5 billion modernization project in 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic has seriously depressed air traffic around the world, reducing airline and airport revenues and raising questions about whether the O’Hare modernization project would be delayed. However, Chicago continues to move forward on the plan with construction proceeding on new runways and expansion of the international terminal.[1] The…
On November 18, 2020, the City of Chicago released a multi-year capital plan for FY2021 through FY2025. The plan totals $11.7 billion over the 5-year period. This is a 36.5%, or $3.1 billion, increase from the previous FY2020 five-year capital plan of $8.6 billion. The new capital plan provides a summary of projects to be primarily funded with general obligation bonds. It is not a full capital improvement plan (CIP) that provides comprehensive information about the planning, financing and…
Illinois has lost less tax revenue than expected this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but the State still faces a significant budget gap, according to the latest official projection. The Governor’s annual economic and fiscal policy report, issued on November 13, raised the projection for the current year’s general operating revenues by $2.2 billion from the July forecast. However, even with the additional revenue the State projects a budget deficit of $3.9 billion in fiscal 2021, which ends…
Click here to read the full report. Click here to read a press release for this analysis. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The Civic Federation supports the Cook County FY2021 Executive Budget Recommendation of $6.92 billion because it reflects the foresighted work Cook County has done over the past several years to establish a structurally balanced budget, which has positioned the County well to endure the financial crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The County has built up its general operating…
