(CHICAGO) The Civic Federation’s Institute for Illinois’ Fiscal Sustainability released an independent examination of the enacted FY2010 State of Illinois budget today. The first-of-its-kind report is designed to provide Illinois residents with a resource to understand the spending and revenue trends that have led to the current fiscal crisis. The enacted budget analysis shows that the State faces a two-year budget deficit going into FY2011 totaling at least $12.8 billion. The Federation’s…
This front-page article on the State of Illinois’ fiscal crisis features commentary by the Civic Federation. The Federation is quoted saying that the State is on the edge of insolvency due to a chronic structural deficit and enormous unfunded pension liabilities.
A plan by Governor Pat Quinn’s administration to enroll elderly and disabled Medicaid recipients in health maintenance organizations (HMOs) has run into opposition from advocates for the disabled and is moving ahead more slowly than expected. As previously discussed in this blog, Governor Quinn hopes to enroll roughly 40,000 elderly and disabled beneficiaries in Northeastern Illinois—excluding Chicago—in HMOs beginning in July of 2010. The pilot plan would be the first time that Illinois’…
Click here to read the Civic Federation’s February 2014 updated list of selected consumer taxes in the City of Chicago. In December of 2009, the Civic Federation released an update of its issue brief on Selected Consumer Taxes in the City of Chicago. The document includes descriptions of selected consumer taxes, recent changes in tax rates and explanations of how revenue from these taxes is distributed among local governments in Chicago. The report highlights changes in taxation that occurred…
This article discusses how local bans on video gambling across the State of Illinois might affect funding for the State's $31 billion in capital spending. The Civic Federation is quoted saying it had warned the General Assembly that gambling is an unreliable source of revenue and notes that the program's revenue assumptions should be reexamined.
Civic Federation President Laurence Msall was interviewed for this news segment about Illinois' severe budget troubles on National Public Radio's "All Things Considered" program. He says that Illinois' fiscal issues do not stem from the current economic recession, but rather the state's history of spending more than its available revenue and a tendency to defer its pension responsibilities.
As the Civic Federation composes its forthcoming Status of Local Pensions Report, we have pensions on our minds. Here’s a quick round up of what’s happening with local pension funds in Chicago and across the State of Illinois, including status updates on commissions, results of pension obligation bonding and cost estimates of legislated benefit increases. City of Chicago In January of 2008 the City of Chicago convened a task force to address its pension funding problems. The City of Chicago…
This week the State of Illinois finalized one of its largest revenue sources enacted by General Assembly and approved by the Governor to fund the FY2010 budget, a $3.5 billion loan. By selling five-year pension obligation bonds, sometimes referred to as pension notes, the State freed up $3.5 billion to fund operations for FY2010 that would have otherwise been used to pay for the statutorily required payment to its five pension funds. However, as previously discussed on the IIFS blog, this…
This segment on the “Chicago Tonight” news program examines Chicago’s ward-based waste collection system. Civic Federation President Laurence Msall was interviewed for the report. He says the City pays too much for the management and labor needed to run 50 individual garbage collection districts. Click the link above or visit the Civic Federation blog to watch the video.
Chicago Public Television Garbage Collection 12/17/2009 Online edition This segment on the “Chicago Tonight” news program examines Chicago’s ward-based waste collection system. Civic Federation President Laurence Msall was interviewed for the report. He says the City pays too much for the management and labor needed to run 50 individual garbage collection districts.
