The ordinance that established the Cook County Health and Hospitals System (Health System) in 2008 specifically granted its independent Board of Directors the authority to participate in purchasing consortia. At a meeting on April 30, 2010, the Board reaffirmed its right to award a contract through such a purchasing group, despite objections from two Commissioners of the Cook County Board. The contract before the Health System’s Board involved the provision of laundry and linen services at…
In response to opposition from state lawmakers, Governor Pat Quinn’s administration has scrapped a proposal to reduce state costs by $254.5 million in FY2011 by requiring all retirees to contribute to their health insurance premiums. Instead, state officials are considering alternatives that call for less drastic increases in retiree payments. As previously discussed in this blog, the State currently pays the entire bill for health insurance premiums for 90% of retired state workers. Under…
The Civic Federation recently released its analysis of Governor Pat Quinn’s recommended FY2011 operating and capital budgets for the State of Illinois. One of the Federation’s strongest points of opposition to the proposed $52 billion operating budget was that it relied heavily on borrowing for operations. The budget as proposed by the Governor called for borrowing to fund $4.7 billion of the total $32.1 billion needed for operating expenditures in FY2011. Recently the Governor increased the…
Spending Plan Would Make Fiscal Crisis Worse (CHICAGO) The Civic Federation’s Institute for Illinois’ Fiscal Sustainability released today its analysis of Governor Quinn’s recommended FY2011 State of Illinois budget. The Federation opposes the Governor’s budget because it is unbalanced, relies too heavily on borrowing, doesn’t address $6.2 billion in unpaid bills, and would exacerbate the State’s structural deficit. The full budget analysis, including a review of the deficit, capital program…
The Civic Federation opposes Governor Pat Quinn’s $52 billion FY2011 recommended operating budget for the State of Illinois because it is unbalanced and does too little to address the State’s fiscal crisis. The Governor’s recommended budget borrows billions to pay for operations while continuing to ignore the massive backlog of unpaid bills, which will make the State’s financial condition worse. Although the Civic Federation is encouraged that Governor Quinn has signed significant pension…
The State of Illinois currently pays the entire bill for health insurance premiums for 90% of retired state workers. Under Illinois law, retirees with at least 20 years of government service and their survivors do not have to pay any portion of their health insurance premiums. Governor Pat Quinn’s FY2011 budget includes a proposal to save state taxpayers $254.5 million by requiring all retirees to pay part of their premium costs. For some retirees, the new expense would be substantial. Health…
Although some national economic indicators suggest that the global recession, which began in December 2007, is showing signs of a gradual recovery, many state budgets are more stressed than ever and have little hope for significant economic gains in the coming fiscal year. The most recent report from the National Council of Economic Advisors, published in February, shows a turnaround in national Gross Domestic Product (GDP) beginning in the third financial quarter of 2009 and continuing in the…
This report describes how the taxable value of real estate is established in Cook County, Illinois. It explains the determination of assessed value and the calculation of taxable value, including data on triennial assessment districts, assessment methods, classification, assessed value, equalization, homestead exemptions, taxable value, and estimated full value of real estate. Read the press release for this report here.
Governor Pat Quinn’s recommended FY2011 budget, issued on March 10, 2010, proposes borrowing $4.7 billion to cover FY2011’s projected operating deficit. No details about the Governor’s borrowing plan have yet been made available. However, the budget proposal states that borrowing would be preferable to increasing the State of Illinois’ backlog of unpaid bills by roughly the same amount because unpaid bills cause financial stress for vendors and require the State to pay 1% a month in interest…
Although the proposed FY2011operating budget for the State of Illinois, which includes a $4.7 billion annual deficit and carrying forward $6 billion in unpaid bills, has garnered the most attention since being released on March 10, 2010, Governor Pat Quinn also proposed an expansion of the capital budget in FY2011. The Governor’s proposed capital budget for FY2011 comes on the heels of a massive increase in annual capital appropriation totaling $30.5 billion in FY2010 and recommends an…
