The Civic Federation supports the $410.9 million FY2013 Chicago Park District budget for limiting spending increases and continuing the District’s effort to eliminate its structural deficit by FY2015. By utilizing prudent alternatives to raising taxes, the District is able to hold its property tax levy relatively flat for the eighth consecutive year. The Civic Federation remains concerned, however, that efforts to eliminate the structural deficit may be offset by the District’s continued…
The Institute for Illinois’ Fiscal Sustainability released a new report today that provides an overview of the condition and funding of Illinois infrastructure. As discussed in a previous post, one of the report’s functions is to compile needs assessments from a number of public agencies to provide an aggregate evaluation of the state of Illinois’ infrastructure, from drinking water to roads to rails. In addition, the report highlights gaps in available data, examines how capital is financed in…
This report provides an overview of the condition and funding of Illinois infrastructure based on a compilation of various needs assessments from public agencies that manage infrastructure in the State including the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority, the Regional Transportation Authority, the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority and the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority. The Civic Federation found that State and local governments could need to invest more than $300 billion over…
The Chicago Park District recently released its $410.9 million spending plan for FY2013. The District had identified a $16.0 million budget gap, which it proposes to close with district-wide shut-down days, position eliminations, refinancing debt and some revenue enhancements. In addition, the District plans to use approximately $10.7 million in General Fund fund balance and prior year resources. This comes after the District planned to use $17.2 million in General Fund fund balance last year…
In a report released today, the Civic Federation supports the $190.3 million proposed FY2013 Forest Preserve District of Cook County budget for its discipline in identifying non-tax revenue sources as an alternative to increasing the property tax levy. The proposed budget also maintains the District’s substantial reserves. The full 60-page report is available at civicfed.org. “President Preckwinkle and Superintendent Randall are responding appropriately to the District’s financial constraints…
The Civic Federation supports the Forest Preserve District of Cook County’s FY2013 proposed $190.3 million budget for its discipline in identifying non-tax revenue sources to hold the property tax levy flat for the fourth year in a row while maintaining substantial reserves. While the District’s overall budget demonstrates continued fiscal discipline, the Civic Federation is concerned about several negative trends threatening the District’s long-term fiscal health. The funded ratio of the…
In its second annual report issued earlier this month, the Illinois’ Budgeting for Results Commission called for the elimination or replacement of mandated expenditures including statutorily required boards and commissions, program initiatives, fund transfers and other expenditures currently required under Illinois law but judged to be outdated or obsolete. Mandated expenditures direct agencies by law to take specific actions or provide services to particular populations or interest groups.…
As highlighted in the Civic Federation’s analysis of the proposed FY2013 City of Chicago budget and discussed in last week’s blog post, Chicago faces difficult choices due to the continued decline of its four pension funds. The Police and Fire pension funds have the lowest actuarial funded ratios at 35.6% and 28.3%. The funded ratio shows the percentage of pension liabilities covered by assets. The lower the percentage, the more difficulty a government may have in meeting future obligations.…
This article covers the Civic Federation’s analysis and support of the City of Chicago FY2013 Proposed Budget. Actions to close a $298 million budget gap reflect better management of personnel expenditures, but the Civic Federation urges the City to reduce its reliance on one-time revenues and reform its unsustainable pension system.
On October 31, 2012, the Civic Federation released its analysis of the City of Chicago’s FY2013 proposed budget and President Laurence Msall presented the Federation’s position to City Council at its public hearing. The Civic Federation supports Mayor Emanuel’s proposed FY2013 budget of nearly $6.5 billion because it is a reasonable continuation of the City’s efforts to reduce its structural deficit through management reforms that focus on expenditure reduction and operational efficiency. With…
