2019 Civic Federation Legislative Priorities The Civic Federation's legislative priorities for 2019 include public employee pension reforms, consolidation of local government units in Illinois, enacting policies to rationalize the property tax system, creation of a Local Government Protection Authority, requiring the State of Illinois to build a rainy day fund, development and implementation of a capital improvement plan and improved…
(CHICAGO) In a report released today, the Civic Federation announced support for Cook County’s proposed FY2019 budget. The $5.9 billion budget proposal is structurally balanced without raising new taxes and continues the practice of making supplemental pension payments. The full report is available here. “Overall, this budget is a prudent plan for the coming year—but it fails to set its sights much further,” said Civic Federation President Laurence Msall. “While there are many positive aspects…
Click here to read the full report. The Civic Federation supports Cook County’s proposed FY2019 budget of $5.9 billion because it is structurally balanced without raising new taxes and continues the practice of making supplemental pension payments. The Federation is encouraged by the County’s strong level of fund balance reserves and its commitment to performance-based budgeting and mid-year preliminary forecast hearings. The Federation further applauds the County’s continued…
The Civic Federation is a member of Transform Illinois, a coalition of organizations committed to greater government efficiency. Transform Illinois held its fourth annual Transformer Awards on Thursday, October 11, 2018, which honored three elected officials and one citizen for their work on government streamlining and collaboration. The award winners were: Senator Melinda Bush, representing areas of Lake County, who was recognized for her consolidation efforts at the State level. Senator…
The latest in a series about local governments, this blog post examines the number of park districts in Illinois, including an analysis of the number of park districts by county. The park districts examined in this blog are stand-alone special purpose governments that provide public parks and recreation services and exclude park departments operated by another unit of government such as a municipality. The Civic Federation uses the number of park districts in the State reported by the Illinois…
Following major policy changes and calls for increased public disclosure, detailed quarterly information about Cook County bond court orders and outcomes is now available online. Chief Judge Timothy Evans’ Office began posting the new data on the Cook County Circuit Court’s website in early May. A dashboard with seven performance measures is currently available for the first quarter of 2018 and the last quarter of 2017. The initial data provide more official evidence of a trend that has been…
Click here to read the full report. The Civic Federation supports the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District’s Tentative FY2018 budget of $1.13 billion because it continues to control operating expenses and maintains financial safeguards, including substantial reserves, to cover shortfalls or financial emergencies. As detailed in the report, the District’s FY2018 budget proposal continues to make increased contributions to the pension fund and to the retiree healthcare trust fund. The…
This article discusses the recent release of a Civic Federation report that calls on Cook County criminal justice officials to more fully disclose critical criminal justice data. According to the report, increased transparency will enable the public to have better informed discussions about criminal justice and the effective use of taxpayer dollars, ultimately empowering taxpayers to hold government officials more accountable. Additional Coverage: Crain's Chicago Business: Watchdog: Quit…
Financial Impact of Recent Decline in Jail Population Remains Elusive (CHICAGO) In a report released today, the Civic Federation called on Cook County’s Chief Judge and Sheriff to follow the practices of other large metropolitan jurisdictions in more fully disclosing information about Cook County’s bond court and jail population. According to the report, increased transparency will enable the public to have better informed discussions about criminal justice and the effective use of taxpayer…
Click here to read the full report. Across the political spectrum in the United States, there is a growing consensus that too many people are locked up in jail because they do not have the money required for release. This report examines recent efforts to reduce the number of detainees in Cook County Jail by reforming practices in and around bond court and includes recommendations for improving data accessibility and coordination among the various agencies that make up the…
