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CookCounty100Days

This 100-Day Accountability Report [link] gives a progress update on recommendations to reform Cook County that the Civic Federation made in its Cook County Modernization Report. The 100-Day Report provides an overview of key events in the transition to the new administration of Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, summarizes key findings from the Modernization Report, provides an update on the County’s budget since publication of the original report and includes detailed information on the status of all 36 recommendations.

Cook County Transparency Initiative

The Cook County Transparency Initiative provides citizens of the County access to transition reports, commissioner reports and research about attempts to reform Cook County. Its purpose is to improve the public's access to informationabout County programs.

A Brief Introduction to Cook County

With an estimated 5,287,037 residents, Cook County is the most populous county in the State of Illinois and the second most populous county in the United States, coming only after Los Angeles County in California.[1] The County is 946 square miles in size – of that only 15% is unincorporated by the City of Chicago or other municipalities. The role of Cook County government is to provide healthcare, court, and public safety services, as well as administer vital records and assess and collect property taxes.

Why You Should Care About Reforming Cook County

County government touches each and every one of its 5.3 million residents, either through its collection of tax and fee revenue or in providing judicial, public health, public safety, and other services.

People who care about the following issues should care about making Cook County a more efficient, modern, and transparent unit of government:

Taxes:

Whether you and your family or friends require its services on a daily basis or not, the County’s inefficient operations and outmoded governance structure will continue to hit you in the wallet if major changes to County operations are not made.

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.

Dissolution and Restructuring of the Illinois International Port District

The Illinois International Port District was created by the Illinois General Assembly in 1951 to promote commerce at the Port of Chicago. Since the early 1980s, however, the District appears to have functioned primarily as the manager of a recreational facility: Harborside International Golf Center. While Harborside is a productive use of a former landfill site and appears to be a successful operation, the Civic Federation believes that management of a golf course should not be the primary activity of a port authority.

Civic Federation and Friends of the Forest Preserves Call for the Creation of a Separate Board for the Forest Preserve District of Cook County

The Civic Federation and Friends of the Forest Preserves support the creation of a separate elected Board of Commissioners to govern the Forest Preserve District of Cook County as detailed in this 2008 report. Due to an organizational structure that creates an inherent conflict of interest and inhibits proper oversight, the District suffers from numerous problems that would be improved by creating a separate governing body to oversee the Forest Preserve system.

The Civic Federation’s Analysis of the Financial Aspects of the Chicago 2016 Olympic Bid

On June 30, 2009 the Chicago City Council passed a resolution asking the Civic Federation to conduct a review of the financial projections made by Chicago 2016 for the City’s bid to host the 2016 Summer Olympic Games. Specifically, the resolution asked the Federation to deliver a report and recommendations to the City Council on Chicago’s financing of the 2016 games and any financial impact on taxpayers. Click here to download a copy of the resolution.

Welcome

The Civic Federation has redesigned its site.

Please click here for the new Civic Federation homepage.

Click here for more information on the site upgrade and an explanation of all the new features.

Issues

The Institute for Illinois’ Fiscal Sustainability at the Civic Federation provides timely policy analysis and recommendations to assist Illinois’ decision-makers with regard to the state's operating and capital budgets, public employee pensions, capital investment, debt, Medicaid, and state employee and retiree health care.

Please select one of the following topics to read the latest IIFS research and commentary on that subject.

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