To help cope with a massive budget deficit as State resources continue to fall in the coming fiscal year, Governor Bruce Rauner has proposed reducing or ending some statutorily required transfers that provide funding for programs and government services outside the General Funds budget. Total transfers out of the General Funds, excluding amounts set aside to pay for debt service, are reduced by $816 million in the Governor’s recommended FY2016 budget to $1.6 billion compared to $2.4 billion in…
The article looks at Governor Bruce Rauner’s first 100 days in office. On the State budget, the Civic Federation said most of the first 100 days has been spent addressing shortfalls in the current FY2015 budget rather than discussion on the $6 billion gap in the upcoming FY2016 budget.
This article examines the options available to Chicago Public Schools as it faces a $1 billion budget shortfall next year with little to no reserve funds. As discussed in the article, the Civic Federation does not support allowing municipalities direct access to bankruptcy. Instead, the Civic Federation’s Pension Committee has proposed the creation of a Local Government Protection Authority, an intervening mechanism that could advise financially distressed local governments and ensure all other…
A week after passing legislation to address a $1.6 billion budget deficit before the end of the fiscal year in June, the State swept $300 million into its operating accounts from funds designated to pay for annual transportation construction projects. An additional $200 million sweep of sales tax funds collected by the State to be distributed to local governments has yet to be transferred over to the State’s General Funds. As previously discussed here, Governor Bruce Rauner and the General…
This column discusses Governor Rauner’s pension reform proposal which accounts for $2.2 billion of the projected savings in his FY2016 budget recommendation. The key component of the proposal is a freeze on the State’s Tier 1 pension benefits, which the Civic Federation’s Institute for Illinois’ Fiscal Sustainability examined in a recent blog.
Governor Bruce Rauner’s recommended budget for fiscal year 2016 includes a new plan for reducing the State of Illinois’ massive pension costs. As discussed here, the plan could cut the State’s unfunded pension liability by approximately $25 billion and save $2.2 billion on pension contributions from general operating funds in FY2016, according to the budget proposal. Proposed legislation on the plan has not yet been filed and the actuarial analysis that was used to generate the savings…
This article analyzes the health of the financial reserves of 90 northeastern Illinois suburbs in response to Governor Rauner’s FY2016 budget proposal that included reducing municipalities’ shares of State Income Tax revenues. The Civic Federation said it would be very difficult for some local governments to absorb the revenue reduction and recommends the General Assembly and Governor work to ensure that the effort to balance the State budget won’t result in greater fiscal crises for local…
Alongside his first operating budget proposed for the State of Illinois, Governor Bruce Rauner also recommended a capital budget for FY2016 that proposes shifting previously vetoed spending authority to pay for delayed maintenance at State owned facilities across the state. As previously discussed here, former-Governor Pat Quinn vetoed the remaining $250 million from the FY2015 capital budget for additional work at the Capitol Complex in response to criticism that restorations at the Capitol…
This article discusses the budget Governor Rauner proposed earlier in February, which closes a $6.2 billion budget gap through program reductions and a pension reform proposal. The piece cites recommendations from the Civic Federation’s FY2016 State of Illinois Budget Roadmap, including broadening the tax base to include some retirement income and select services.
In his first budget proposal for the State of Illinois, Governor Bruce Rauner recommended more than $4 billion in spending cuts and $2.2 billion in estimated pension savings to close a projected budget gap of over $6 billion in fiscal year 2016. The proposed $31.5 billion General Funds budget, issued on February 18, 2015, has steep cuts to many programs, including Medicaid and human services, and reduces State support for public universities, local governments and transit districts. Areas…
