The Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) has historically received a reduced fare reimbursement, or subsidy, from the State of Illinois for providing free and discounted rides to eligible riders including seniors, people with disabilities, military and students. The CTA provides nearly 100 million free and reduced-fare trips annually, which amounts to more than $100 million in foregone revenue.[1] The reduced fare subsidy is a partial reimbursement from the State of Illinois for the discounted…
The Civic Federation is pleased to partner with the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago to co-host "Unlocking the Box: Best Practices for Financing Illinois' Infrastructure" on Friday, April 5, 2019. SOLD OUT To include your name on the waitlist, please call 312-201-9066. AGENDA 7:30 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. — Registration and Continental Breakfast Badge Pickup and Security Inspection in the Lobby 8:00 a.m. — Welcome Leslie McGranahan, Vice President and…
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…
Click here to read the full report. The Civic Federation supports the Chicago Transit Authority’s proposed FY2019 operating budget of $1.6 billion. Despite continued shortfalls in state funding, the proposed budget does not include any fare increases or service cuts. While supporting the budget as a reasonable one-year plan, the Federation has significant concerns about the CTA’s ongoing decline in overall ridership and a lack of state funding. Among other recommendations, the…
The Civic Federation conducts an analysis of the Chicago Transit Authority’s annual proposed budget each year. This analysis includes two measures used to assess CTA’s productivity over time: labor cost per actual unlinked passenger trip and operating expense per passenger mile.[1] The data used to calculate the productivity measures are obtained from the annual budget documents. As discussed in previous years, the labor cost per unlinked passenger trip is a metric in which a lower dollar…
Following the enactment of the State of Illinois FY2019 budget on June 4, the Civic Federation blog has analyzed the potential impact on the General Funds and on local governments. This blog post will discuss the provisions for capital spending and the State’s long-term debt. FY2019 Capital Budget For the most part, the appropriations bill passed by the General Assembly includes all capital spending requested by Governor Bruce Rauner in his proposed FY2019 capital budget. The proposal included…
Illinois has grappled with a number of financial challenges over the last decade, including structural deficits, pension underfunding and a two year standoff without a budget. Now, some leaders and advocates have begun to demand renewed attention to how the State funds transportation and other infrastructure. In recent testimony before the Illinois General Assembly House Transportation Committee, the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning stated that the State’s transportation funding had “…
Click here to read the full report. The Civic Federation opposes CTA's proposed FY2018 budget because it relies on overly optimistic projections of restored funding from the State of Illinois and embarks on a dangerous path of borrowing for operational expenses to close the prior year shortfall. As an alternative path to generate additional revenue, balance the budget and maintain service levels, the Civic Federation recommends implementing increased fares on el trains and express buses…
Each year the Civic Federation conducts an analysis of the CTA’s annual proposed budget. As part of the analysis, the Civic Federation uses two measures to assess CTA’s productivity over time: labor cost per actual unlinked passenger trip and operating expense per passenger mile.[1] The data used to calculate the productivity measures is obtained from the annual budget documents. Productivity can be measured in terms of labor cost per unlinked passenger trip. A lower dollar amount indicates…
The Civic Federation recently released its analysis of the CTA’s FY2017 Budget. The Civic Federation supports the Chicago Transit Authority’s FY2017 operating budget of $1.52 billion because it holds base fares flat and continues to make strategic capital investments despite ongoing state funding uncertainty. As part the Civic Federation’s annual analysis of the CTA budget, the Federation uses two measures to assess CTA’s productivity over time: labor cost per actual unlinked passenger trip…
