12.30.15
The following are the five most read posts presented by the Civic Federation blog in 2015. These posts examine a number of closely followed local government issues, ranging from City and County taxes to Chicago pension debt.
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12.23.15
The following were among the most highly read posts provided by the Institute for Illinois’ Fiscal Sustainability in 2015. Understandably, they represent the most closely followed Illinois fiscal issue of the year: the ongoing state budget impasse. The posts have been listed in...
12.11.15
Popular Annual Financial Reports: The Potential for Increased Transparency, Accountability and Public Inclusion
The Civic Federation has long encouraged government transparency and accountability, both of which are emphasized in our Mission...
12.03.15
As Illinois enters the sixth month of fiscal year 2016 without a budget, the backlog of unpaid group health insurance bills has reached more than $2 billion and is likely to grow much larger.
In the...
09.25.15
Revenue collected by the State of Illinois from the largest two areas of legal gaming in the State, riverboat casinos and lottery, both declined significantly in fiscal year 2015 while the State’s more recently implemented video gaming continued to grow. However, unlike previous years the gains...
08.06.15
The City of Chicago recently released its Annual Financial Analysis for 2015 . According to an executive order ...
07.28.15
UPDATE: On September 9, 2015, a lawsuit challenging the streaming services was filed on behalf of seven plaintiffs against the City of Chicago. The plaintiffs argue that because they subscribe to various streaming services, such as Netflix, Hulu and Spotify, they “...
04.14.15
What local government purposes, services, or expenditures does your property tax dollar fund? Governments traditionally use property tax revenues to pay for a wide variety of expenditures, including employee salaries and pensions, debt service and administrative costs. But, there are significant...
04.10.15
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...
04.03.15
The State of Illinois recently enacted legislation designed to close a $1.6 billion budget gap for the fiscal year ending on June 30, 2015. This blog post reviews the causes of the operating deficit and examines Public Acts...