On February 20, 2012 Mayor Emanuel released the City of Chicago’s first quarterly budget report in order “to ensure more transparency and honesty in the City’s budgeting process.” The reports track the City’s revenues and expenditures as they align with the budget. They also include updates on major initiatives implemented through the budget process. Recently the City released the budget report for the fourth quarter of 2012 which presents the most up-to-date financial numbers available. The…
The State of Illinois has asked the federal government to extend Cook County’s Medicaid expansion plan to ensure that recipients remain covered after the end of 2013. In a letter on March 21, 2013, the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services (HFS) told federal authorities that it still expects the State to pass legislation allowing Illinois to expand its entire Medicaid program beginning in January 2014. HFS stated that it was requesting an extension for the Cook County plan as a…
This article reports on Vendor Assistance Program LLC, a Chicago startup aiming to profit by advancing money to vendors that are owed payments from the State of Illinois. The Civic Federation’s FY2014 State Budget Roadmap is cited, which estimates Illinois’ backlog of unpaid bills could reach $22 billion in five years if the State continues on its current path of fiscal mismanagement.
Governor Pat Quinn has proposed eliminating several corporate tax incentives to help pay down the State’s backlog of unpaid bills that is expected to total $7.5 billion at the end of the current fiscal year. The Governor’s proposal would eliminate three rules that allow corporations to reduce tax liabilities and would increase State corporate income tax revenues by an estimated $445 million annually. The funds generated from the changes would then be deposited in a new special account and used…
On March 6, 2013, Governor Pat Quinn issued his recommended budget for the fiscal year that begins on July 1, 2013. However, the first major obstacle to the Governor’s proposed FY2014 budget emerged a day earlier, when the Illinois House approved a revenue projection that was significantly below the Governor’s revenue number. The Governor’s budget recommendation is based on projected FY2014 General Funds revenues of $35.6 billion. The House estimated that General Funds revenues in FY2014 would…
This editorial discusses Illinois’ financial crisis in the context of the income tax increase enacted in 2011 and scheduled to partially rollback on January 1, 2015. It cites the Civic Federation’s State of Illinois FY2014 Budget Roadmap, which projects Illinois’ backlog of unpaid bills to reach $22 billion by FY2018 unless action is taken to curb rising pension costs.
This blog examines some of the long-term obligations of the City of Chicago and its overlapping local governments using a per capita indicator based on bonded debt and unfunded pension liabilities. Rating agencies and other financial analysts commonly monitor overlapping direct debt trends as an affordability indicator when governments consider debt issuance. The indicator reflects the premise that the entire population of a jurisdiction benefits from and bears the cost of infrastructure…
This article covers the Civic Federation’s FY2014 State of Illinois Roadmap, which projects that Illinois’ pension costs would consume nearly one-third of State-generated revenue in FY2018 without pension reform. The report also projects the State’s backlog of unpaid bills could reach $22 billion in FY2018.
This article covers the Civic Federation’s FY2014 State of Illinois Roadmap, released February 25. The report projects a $22 billion backlog of unpaid bills by FY2018 if legislators don’t immediately enact comprehensive pension reform. The Civic Federation said Illinois will have to compromise key government services in order to make its future pension payments.
State urgently needs long-term plan to address rising pension and Medicaid costs, loss of income tax revenues (CHICAGO) – An analysis released today by the Civic Federation’s Institute for Illinois’ Fiscal Sustainability shows the State of Illinois is on track to accumulate nearly $22 billion in unpaid bills by FY2018 unless action is taken to curb rising pension costs and plan for increases in the Medicaid program. The five-year projections in the Federation’s FY2014 Budget Roadmap are…
