December 03, 2013
The Civic Federation supports the $425.6 million Chicago Park District budget for continuing the District’s multi-year effort to reduce its structural deficit. The proposal includes a broad-based property tax increase after eight years of relatively flat levies for the District. It also leaves the District well-positioned to implement the comprehensive pension reforms passed by the Illinois General Assembly in November 2013 that are now awaiting the Governor’s review.
The District's pension reform legislation includes significant increases in annual employer pension contributions as well as supplemental employer contributions in FY2015, FY2017 and FY2019. The Civic Federation urges the District to develop a long-term plan to accommodate these increases and other future challenges. The District already employs many of the techniques of a long-term financial planning process internally, including projection of multi-year revenue trends and modeling of various revenue and expenditure options.
The Chicago Park District’s fiscal year begins January 1, 2014 and ends December 31, 2014.