This article discusses a proposed borrowing plan that could help pay down the State of Illinois’ record pile of unpaid bills and references a recent Civic Federation blog post that debates whether or not it’s fiscally responsible for Illinois to borrow to reduce its bill backlog.
This article examines the growing amount of interest penalties the State of Illinois is accumulating due to the State’s inability to pay down its bill backlog. Civic Federation President Laurence Msall comments that Illinois has become addicted to the bad habit of incurring interest penalties from not paying its bills. Click here for addtional coverage from the Associated Press.
In this segment, Civic Federation President Laurence Msall joined a Chicago Tonight panel to discuss Governor Rauner’s recent State of the State address and Illinois’ continued fiscal issues.
After nearly 19 months without a budget, Illinois’ backlog of unpaid bills currently stands at over $10.9 billion [1]. Without a comprehensive plan to restore fiscal balance, the backlog will only continue to grow. However, even if balance is restored in fiscal year 2018, the backlog accumulated to date presents a challenge to the State and an ongoing burden on its finances. As part of its compromise budget package, the Illinois Senate has proposed to borrow $7 billion to pay…
Surveys show that Americans are divided in their views of the Affordable Care Act. With the incoming administration in Washington vowing to dismantle the federal healthcare law, this blog post examines Illinois’ expansion of the Medicaid program under the act. Medicaid expansion was a key feature of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), designed to reduce the number of people without health insurance. While much of the debate about the 2010 law has focused on its insurance marketplaces, the Medicaid…
This article discusses the negative impact a repeal to the Affordable Care Act could have on hospital systems and local and state governments across the country. The article references the Civic Federation’s analysis of Cook County‘s FY2017 budget that says the Affordable Care Act dramatically improved the Cook County Health and Hospital System’s finances by providing Medicaid coverage for patients who were previously treated free of charge.
The following are the five most read blog posts presented by the Institute for Illinois’ Fiscal Sustainability in 2016. These posts discuss issues ranging from penalties on Illinois’ overdue bills to the ongoing state budget impasse. Penalties on Overdue Bills Add Up for State of Illinois February 17, 2016 This post highlights the interest penalties that the State of Illinois pays due to its delayed bill backlog. According to data from the Illinois Comptroller’s office, late payments…
The following are the five most read posts presented by the Civic Federation blog in 2016. These posts examine issues ranging from local government consolidation to pension funding reform. Cook County Electorate to Vote on Referendum to Merge the Recorder of Deeds with the County Clerk July 20, 2016 This post highlights an initiative long supported by the Civic Federation to merge the offices of the Cook County Clerk and the Cook County Recorder of Deeds. On June 29, 2016 the Cook…
This article analyzes how suburban Cook County park districts subsidize their recreational programs. Civic Federation President Laurence Msall commented on the Village of Palatine’s use of recreational program revenue for capital projects, noting that transferring surpluses from one year to other accounts is acceptable, as long as it’s not used to avoid voter approval for large capital expenses that have long-term financial obligations for the district’s taxpayers.
On November 16, 2016, Chicago Public Schools (CPS) released an amended FY2017 budget plan based on the contract agreement reached between the District and the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) on November 1, 2016. The revised budget includes an additional $55 million in spending which CPS plans to fund through $55 million additional tax increment financing (TIF) surplus from the City of Chicago. The Civic Federation continues to have serious concerns about the CPS FY2017 budget. The budget relies…
