UPDATE: The Civic Federation commends Governor Pat Quinn for signing Senate Bill 3538, a bill reforming police and fire pensions in Illinois, on Thursday, December 30 as Public Act 096-1495. To read Governor Quinn’s press release, please click here. Click here to read an article from the Chicago Tribune about Governor Quinn’s signing of the bill. This editorial in the Sun-Times echoes the Civic Federation’s position that while the reforms in SB 3538 are a good first step, more must be done to…
The Civic Federation supports the Chicago Park District’s FY2011 proposed operating budget of $397.6 million. The District is proposing to hold the property tax levy flat and maintain expenditures at close to FY2010 levels by using operating efficiencies and personnel cuts. The District is also proposing to eliminate its $22.0 million budget deficit in part by using $12.0 million of TIF surplus and $3.0 million of Corporate Fund balance. However, the Civic Federation is concerned about the…
The Chicago Park District is to be commended for holding its property tax levy flat for the sixth straight year, says a Civic Federation report released today. The District will rely on non-tax revenues and a slight cut in staffing levels to balance its proposed FY2011 budget of $397.6 million. While the Federation commends the District’s restraint, it is also concerned that an ongoing reliance on non-recurring revenues may indicate that the District has a structural deficit. The Chicago Park…
The Civic Federation released today its analysis of the Chicago Park District’s proposed FY2011 budget of $397.6 million. The Federation supported the District’s budget, which represents an increase of only 1.5% from the previous year. The District is continuing to successfully pursue non-tax revenues, is holding the property tax levy flat for the sixth straight year and will have a slight decrease in Full-Time Equivalent positions. The Civic Federation is concerned about the…
The City of Chicago contributed $423.9 million to its Municipal, Laborers, Police, and Fire pension funds in fiscal year 2009, an amount equivalent to 13.4% of payroll. If it were following a fiscally reasonable pension funding policy it would have contributed at least 31.2% of payroll—an additional $566.5 million. Over the last ten years the cumulative difference between what was actually contributed and what should have been contributed to the four City pension funds is $2.4 billion. This…
A new report by the Civic Federation’s Institute for Illinois’ Fiscal Sustainability (IIFS) shows why the State of Illinois is struggling to make its roughly $4 billion pension contribution in FY2011. The report reviews the State’s $53.5 billion operating budget for the current fiscal year, which began on July 1, 2010 and ends on June 30, 2011. The report focuses on the $25.8 billion General Funds budget, the largest component of the operating budget and the part of the budget over…
(CHICAGO) The Civic Federation’s Institute for Illinois’ Fiscal Sustainability released a plain-English summary of the State of Illinois’ FY2011 enacted budget today. The 26-page report is available on our website, www.civicfed.org. “After months of hearing about changes to spending and borrowing plans, the people of Illinois are understandably confused about the State budget,” said Laurence Msall, president of the Civic Federation. “Our analysis distills months of negotiations and hundreds of…
This report examines the State of Illinois’ $53.5 billion operating budget for Fiscal Year 2011, which began on July 1, 2010 and ends on June 30, 2011. The report focuses on the $25.8 billion General Funds budget, the largest component of the total operating budget. It is designed to provide Illinois residents with a resource to understand expenditure and revenue trends at the State of Illinois. Read the press release here.
This news story explains how politics has helped create a situation in which Chicago pension funds are at risk of insolvency. The Civic Federation says that pension “holidays” have had a negative effect on funding levels of some pension funds.
This article compares the different statements made by think tank organizations about the extent of Illinois’ fiscal issues. The Civic Federation says that while State employees are not overpaid, they do receive very generous retirement benefits.
