As part of its ongoing analysis of State and local government budgets, the Civic Federation also reviews proposed capital budgets along with any planning documents provided in support of infrastructure investments. Although many…
Four large local government pension funds in the Chicago area reduced their expected investment rates of return for fiscal year 2012. While intended to make the funds’ actuarial assumptions more realistic, these decisions will also have…
Over the next few weeks, many Chicago-area local governments will be releasing their proposed budgets for fiscal year 2014. In preparation for the upcoming budget releases, this blog will recap the Civic Federation’s significant…
Since July 2013 each of the six local governments monitored by the Civic Federation with General Obligation bond debt has experienced downgrades to their bond ratings. These governments are the City of Chicago, Cook County, the…
The long-term lease of assets by the City of Chicago is one of the most significant financial undertakings by the City in recent years. These groundbreaking transactions have received national attention and been examined by other…
Managed competition is a form of alternative service delivery or public-private partnership (P3) that requires in-house service units of a government to compete with external providers under a controlled or managed process. It involves…
Managed competition is a form of alternative service delivery that requires in-house service units of a government to compete with external providers under a controlled or managed process. The purpose of this issue brief is to describe…
The blogs for this week and next week will examine the long-term obligations of six selected municipalities in Illinois and their overlapping local governments using per capita indicators based on unfunded pension liabilities and bonded…
Last week the City of Chicago released its Annual Financial Analysis for 2013. According to an…
