In this segment, Civic Federation President Laurence Msall discusses key aspects of the State of Illinois’ FY2018 budget and the challenges the State still faces. He says the most important aspect of Illinois having a budget is that it puts parameters on the obligations the State will in incur in the coming fiscal year.
On July 1, 2017, both chambers of the Illinois General Assembly voted to override the Governor’s veto of House Bill 1811, which included a measure authorizing the City of Chicago to increase its emergency communications surcharge to $5.00 per month for phone service contracts. The current surcharge is $3.90 per month per phone service contract. If the City Council approves the emergency communications surcharge increase, Mayor Rahm Emanuel reportedly would use the revenue to fund improvements…
The State of Illinois ended its two-year budget impasse on July 6, 2017, enacting a $36.1 billion spending plan with about $5 billion in tax increases. To break the logjam, the General Assembly narrowly overrode Governor Bruce Rauner’s…
In the following news pieces, Civic Federation President Laurence Msall discusses details of the State of Illinois’ FY2018 budget plan and the impact the budget will have on the State’s finances. He says that the enactment of the State’s FY2018 budget is a great step in the right direction but will not fully end Illinois’ long-term financial crisis. ----- The Wall Street Journal: Illinois Budget Deal Would Leave Many Problems Unaddressed Bloomberg: Illinois House Overrides Rauner’s Veto to…
The following news items cover the release of the Institute for Illinois’ Fiscal Sustainability at the Civic Federation's analysis of Governor Rauner’s FY2018 recommended budget. As mentioned in the analysis, the Civic Federation cannot support the FY2018 recommended budget. Further, the Federation calls on the Governor and General Assembly to end the unacceptable stalemate and to reject any attempt to pass standalone K-12 spending, payment of non-emergency workers or any piecemeal approach…
Click here to read the full report. The Civic Federation’s Institute for Illinois’ Fiscal Sustainability not able to support Governor Rauner’s recommended FY2018 budget because it has an operating deficit of at least $4.6 billion, presents an insufficiently detailed plan for closing the gap and does not address Illinois’ massive backlog of bills. In addition to analyzing the recommended budget, the report examines the costs of the ongoing impasse and the irreparable harm caused to our…
The Illinois Department of Revenue announced in April 2017 that the final equalization factor for the Cook County 2016 property assessment year (taxes payable in 2017) is 2.8032. The 2016 final equalization factor of 2.8032 is greater than the final 2015 equalization factor of 2.6685. This does not mean that individual property tax bills will go up or down. It means that, overall, the weighted average level of assessment[1] in Cook County for all types of property averaged over the…
This article discusses a proposal by Governor Bruce Rauner that would freeze property taxes in Illinois and the financial repercussions it could have on the State’s local governments. Civic Federation President Laurence Msall says that if Illinois is going to enact a property tax freeze, it should present a plan for how its many distressed local governments will still be able to fund their pensions, debt service and core services.
This article discusses a recent Illinois Senate Appropriations Committee hearing where legislators heard testimony regarding the State’s continued spending far in excess of its known revenues due to the absence of a budget. During his testimony, Civic Federation President Laurence Msall highlighted recommendations from the Federation's State of Illinois FY2018 Budget Roadmap, which presents a plan for stabilizing Illinois’ finances, and also answered lawmakers’ questions about the irreparable…
The Cook County Circuit Court recently ruled that the City of Chicago cannot tax other tobacco products according to Illinois state law. The City’s home rule tax on these products was expected to bring in $6.0 million in revenue. Other tobacco products (OTP) include the following non-cigarette tobacco products: Cigars; Pipe Tobacco; Smokeless Tobacco; and Smoking Tobacco. The Chicago City Council adopted an Other Tobacco Products (OTP) Tax Ordinance on March 16, 2016 and the tax was…
