Library

Frequently Asked Questions about the Recommendations for a Financially Sustainable City of Chicago Report

Q: Why has the Civic Federation produced the report?

A: In recent years the Civic Federation has become increasingly troubled by the conditions of the City of Chicago’s finances. Several years of short-term fixes have created fiscal challenges. With the new administration of City of Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel – the first new mayor in over 20 years – as well as 18 new aldermen, there exists an opportunity to institute reforms and put the City of Chicago on the path to fiscal sustainability.

Q: What is the goal of the report?

Civic Federation Property Tax Primers

The Cook County property tax system is very complex and difficult to understand. To help educate the public about the tax process and hold elected officials accountable, the Civic Federation has prepared a series of primers about the various processes and associated governmental bodies that manage the Cook County property tax system. Also located on this page is a link to all Civic Federation research about property taxes, including blog posts and budget analyses.

Appeals

A Fiscal Rehabilitation Plan for the State of Illinois

An Analysis of the State’s Fiscal Crisis and Actionable Recommendations for Governor Pat Quinn and the Illinois General Assembly

The Fiscal Rehabilitation Plan for the State of Illinois describes the basis of Illinois’ current fiscal crisis and presents the Civic Federation’s plan to salvage the State’s finances. This plan calls for a comprehensive package of budget cuts, pension reforms, and revenue increases to put Illinois on solid financial footing and address its nationally-recognized fiscal crisis.

The Fiscal Rehabilitation Plan

2012 P3 Conference Agenda

Beyond Parking Meters:
The Future of Public-Private Partnerships in Illinois
Co-Hosted by the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago and the Civic Federation

Wednesday, March 14, 2012
8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago
230 South LaSalle Street
Chicago, Illinois

A Brief Introduction to the City of Chicago

With over 2.8 million residents, the City of Chicago is the largest city in Illinois and the third most-populous city in the nation. The city is 234 square miles in size and is the county seat of Cook County. The City of Chicago is responsible for many of the day-to-day services that residents and visitors depend upon such as public safety and sanitation, road construction and repairs, public housing, cultural opportunities and restaurant inspections, among many others.

2014 Civic Federation Awards Luncheon

On June 25 at the Fairmont Millennium Park, Co-Chairs Lester Crown, Anne Dias Griffin, Andrew J. McKenna, Michael J. Sacks and the entire Board of Directors of the Civic Federation were pleased to honor Ann Lurie with the Lyman J. Gage Award for Outstanding Civic Contribution by a Chicagoan and Northern Trust with the Addams-Palmer Award for Exemplary Civic Involvement by a Chicago Institution. The luncheon was attended by more than 500 of Chicago's and Illinois' business, civic and government leaders.

Press Room

The press room houses Civic Federation press releases and recent news clips, as well as quick facts and figures about our organization and the governments we analyze. You can also sign up for our RSS feeds to stay informed about all of the Civic Federation’s non-partisan research, information and action.

Library introduction

All published Civic Federation and Institute for Illinois’ Fiscal Sustainability (IIFS) research dating back to 1993 is available free of charge via this library. Older research is avalible in the archives.

Search results can be customized by selecting any number of options through the filters. Search by government, issue, publication type, date, or budget fiscal year. In addition to published reports, results can be filtered to include blog posts and special information pages. Identify IIFS research as results with blue headings.

Civic Federation Achievements

In the 119 years since its founding, the Civic Federation has been credited with an array of significant accomplishments in improving government efficiency, effectiveness and transparency.

The work of the Federation the 21st century has evolved from its work in the 20th century as a leading advocate for governmental fiscal responsibility and as an effective champion of rational tax policy. The Civic Federation now also places a greater emphasis on working with government officials to improve the efficiency, effectiveness and accountability of Chicago-area governments.

The following is a short round-up of the Civic Federation’s recent and historical achievements, collected as a service to our Board of Directors and the public.

President’s Message

Welcome to civicfed.org, the digital voice of the Civic Federation. Here you can find our publications, as well as blog and multimedia content, all available free of charge. All Federation content is easily searchable by date, issue, content type and many other categories in the Library section of the website. This website also features a separate section for the Federation’s State of Illinois-oriented research institute, the Institute for Illinois’ Fiscal Sustainability (IIFS).

Library

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