This article examines the City of Chicago’s issuance of bonds ahead of a vote on the City’s FY2012 budget proposal. The article also cites the Federation’s analysis of the proposal.
This editorial segment discusses cuts that could be made to the City of Chicago budget to fill a $635 million deficit. It mentions the Civic Federation’s support of the City’s FY2012 budget proposal because the proposal made significant cuts to address the deficit.
The Civic Federation's legislative priorities for 2012 include public pension reform, requiring the State of Illinois to develop and implement a capital improvement plan, dissolving the Illinois International Port District, creating a new governing board for the Cook County Forest Preserve District, requiring all counties to hold budget hearings and large counties to produce timely annual audits, enacting tax increment financing reporting reform, requiring school financial management…
A proposed package of tax incentives currently being considered by the Illinois General Assembly includes eliminating tax relief known as “bonus depreciation” already provided to businesses for 2011 through a federal tax change that the State currently conforms to. Among other provisions, Senate Bill 397 provides tax credits to specific companies that have publicly stated they are considering leaving the state and an increase in the earned income tax credit (EITC) from 5% to 10% in 2012 and 15…
The Chicago Transit Authority Board will vote on CTA President Forrest Claypool’s FY2012 Budget Recommendations on November 15, 2011. The proposed $1.2 billion operating budget closes a preliminary budget shortfall of approximately $277 million, which was driven by $81 million in expenditure increases and the loss of $196 million in one-time revenues used during FY2011. The CTA plans to close more than half of the budget shortfall by cutting personnel costs with labor reforms that are…
The Civic Federation supports the proposed FY2012 Chicago Transit Authority budget of $1.2 billion because it will set the agency on a more sustainable path. The spending plan will also avoid fare hikes or service cuts if labor unions and arbitrators agree to work rule changes that would save $160 million annually. The full 41-page analysis is available at civicfed.org. The budget ends the CTA’s reliance on capital funds to prop up spending, an important development for the future fiscal…
The State of Illinois’ new commission tasked with improving the State’s budget process recently published its first annual report with substantive recommendations for implementation of performance based budgeting for the State and guidance for the next steps in the process. The Budgeting for Results Commission was appointed by Governor Pat Quinn in August 2011 and has spent the last several months studying the state budget and taking testimony from budget experts, agency directors and members…
The Civic Federation supports the FY2012 proposed Chicago Transit Authority budget of approximately $1.2 billion because it ends the past practice of using capital funds to close operating gaps and maintains current fare and service levels. This budget proposes to substantially curb expenditure growth by addressing expensive labor practices thereby setting a direction for structurally balanced budgets in the future. However, the FY2012 budget depends on the cooperation of labor unions and…
This news story examines the Civic Federation’s analysis of Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s FY2012 $6.3 billion budget proposal for the City of Chicago.
In this blog post, Crain’s columnist Greg Hinz discusses the Federation’s analysis of the City of Chicago FY2012 budget proposal.
