Civic Federation President Laurence Msall discusses Governor Quinn’s FY2012 budget and pension reform in this roundtable discussion.
The Civic Federation opposes Governor Pat Quinn’s $52.7 billion FY2012 recommended operating budget for the State of Illinois because it is unbalanced by approximately $2.4 billion and is based on the premise that long-term borrowing is the right tool to dig the State out from under its massive backlog of unpaid bills and other obligations. To the contrary, the Governor’s proposed borrowing is likely to make the State’s financial condition worse over time. Although the Civic Federation is…
(CHICAGO) A new report by the Institute for Illinois’ Fiscal Sustainability at the Civic Federation has found that Governor Quinn’s proposed budget is unbalanced by a total of $2.4 billion when artificially inflated revenues of $970.9 million are taken into account. The 98 page analysis of the Governor’s proposed $52.7 billion FY2012 budget was released today on the Civic Federation website at www.civicfed.org. The analysis finds that the Governor’s budget overestimates revenues by $976 million…
In this blog post, Greg Hinz discusses a Pew Center on the States report that found Illinois is the worst in the nation at funding its pension systems. The Civic Federation says that the news may serve as a signal to lawmakers that they must address the issue. Click here to read the Federation's blog post about the report.
The Pew Center on the States recently released its report card on the health of state pension systems. Just as they were last year, the funding status of Illinois’ pension systems is the worst in the nation, with the State only funding 51% of its liabilities through FY2009. States in marginally better shape include West Virginia with 56% funding and Oklahoma at 57%. Illinois has its work cut out as it tries to restore solvency to its pension systems. Pension funding best practices recommend…
Mayor-Elect Rahm Emanuel and the newly elected Chicago City Council face a host of major financial challenges. One of the hardest problems to solve will be the pension crisis. As a result of recent state legislation, the City now faces two distinct pension problems: two of its four funds are still expected to run out of money by the year 2030 while the other two funds are scheduled to be rescued from insolvency but at a very steep cost to the City. The City of Chicago maintains four employee…
In this blog post, Greg Hinz discusses the conclusions of the Civic Federation's "Cook County Modernization 100-Day Accountability Report." The Federation found that administration of County Board President Toni Preckwinkle has made considerable progress in modernizing operations, but still faces significant challenges over the next few years.
Concerns Remain about Independence of the Health System, Future Budgets (CHICAGO) A new Civic Federation report released today finds that Cook County has made considerable progress toward modernizing its operations, but still faces significant challenges over the next few years. The Cook County Modernization 100-Day Accountability Report is in follow up to the Federation’s October 2010 Cook County Modernization Report. The new publication assesses the progress the Preckwinkle administration has…
The Civic Federation’s Cook County Modernization 100-Day Accountability Report continues the work of our Cook County Modernization Project. This report includes detailed information on the status of all 36 recommendations from the Civic Federation’s Cook County Modernization Report (published in October 2010), as well as a dashboard rating system for recommendations that were to be implemented within the first 100 days under the leadership of Board President Preckwinkle. Cook County has made…
After three years of increasing budget deficits, the State of Illinois is expected to see a smaller budget gap at the end of FY2011 because of tax increases and expanded borrowing for operations. The FY2011 year-end deficit is currently projected to total $4.4 billion, according to Civic Federation calculations based on information in Governor Pat Quinn’s FY2012 recommended budget. That compares with a total budget gap of $6.3 billion in FY2010. The table below shows factors contributing to…
