City of Chicago

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Pension Funding Basics: Assets and Liabilities

The most basic question about a pension fund is whether its assets are sufficient to cover total liabilities incurred. In this blog post, we examine the aggregate pension liabilities and Other Post…

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Pension Funding Basics: Unfunded Liabilities as a Percentage of Payroll

The difference between a pension fund’s assets and accrued liabilities is known as the unfunded liability. The unfunded actuarial accrued liability (UAAL)

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How the Chicago 911 Surcharge Frees Up Additional Funding for the Municipal and Laborers’ Pension Funds

Public Act 98-0641, the City of Chicago’s pension reform bill, originally called for an increase in property taxes to help fund the Municipal Employees’ Annuity and…

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Trends in Estimated Full Value of Real Estate in Cook County

The Civic Federation today released its annual estimate of the full value of real estate in Chicago and the Cook County suburbs. After the rate of decline in estimated property values slowed for the County as a whole in 2011, the rate of…

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Estimated Full Value of Real Property in Cook County: 2003-2012

This report provides estimates of the total market value of real property in Cook County from 2003-2012 and shows how property value is spread among the City of Chicago, the northern and the southern suburbs.The full market value of…

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City Releases Annual Financial Analysis for 2014: Budget Projections Do Not Include Increase in Police and Fire Pension Fund Payments

This week the City of Chicago released its Annual Financial Analysis for 2014. According to an…

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Most Chicago TIF Districts Reported Revenue Declines in 2013

A new report by Cook County Clerk David Orr released on July 16 finds that 68.2% or 103 of Chicago’s 151 tax increment financing (…

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The Illinois Income Tax: A Significant Source of Revenue for Local Governments

Under Illinois law, the State is required to share a certain portion of state income tax receipts with municipal and county governments…

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Chicago Faces Significant Swaps Liabilities if Bond Rating Lowered Again

The City of Chicago currently has the lowest rated credit of any major city in the country according to Moody’s Investors Service.  At Baa1, the long-term bond rating is still several levels above…

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Op-ed: Gov. Quinn, sign Chicago's pension bill

The following opinion piece by Civic Federation President Laurence Msall was published by the