In FY2010 the City of Chicago proposes to close a majority of its FY2010 $520 million budget deficit with proceeds it received from the long-term leases of its parking meters and the Chicago Skyway. This begs the question: how has the…
The Civic Federation opposes the FY2010 City of Chicago budget of $6.14 billion because it is unsustainable and relies too heavily on one-time reserve funds to close a $520.0 million budget deficit. The proposed drastic draw down of long-…
The Illinois Senate voted today to approve House Bill 4625, which means both houses of the…
The property tax rates released yesterday by the Cook County Clerk show that the composite tax rates in the City of Chicago and many municipalities declined slightly from the…
Data from the most recent audited financial statements of Illinois’ state and local government pension funds shows that the total unfunded liabilities for pensions supported by the taxes of Chicago residents reached $10,037 per capita for…
One of the Civic Federation’s ongoing concerns has been transparency in the use of Tax Increment Financing (TIF) by the City of Chicago and State of Illinois. Although the Civic Federation supports the use of TIF as municipal economic…
This week the Civic Federation released its annual Effective Property Tax Rates report. The report…
Did you ever wonder how your property tax dollars are spent by the City of Chicago? How many people work for the Department of Streets and Sanitation? How much those employees are paid? What kinds of taxes and fees the City levies and how…
The Civic Federation and our consultant L.E.K. Consulting testified yesterday before the Finance Committee of the Chicago City Council about our review of the…
The Civic Federation and L.E.K. Consulting's review of the Chicago 2016 Olympic Bid has determined that the operating budget provides adequate protection for taxpayers, but the development of the Olympic Village exposes the City of Chicago…
