The Civic Federation supports the City of Chicago's proposed $5.7 billion budget but has serious concerns about the poor health of the City's pension funds and the low level of reserve funds for contingencies.
This report compares property tax rates in selected communities around metropolitan Chicago, and finds that the effective rate for most communities studied fell between 1999 and 2004.
This report provides estimates of the total market value of real property in Cook County from 1995-2004 and shows how property value is spread among the City of Chicago, the northern and the southern suburbs. In 2004, the value of property…
This report provides a trend analysis of indicators that measure the financial health and performance of ten major local government pension funds from 1997 to 2004. It finds a combined $14.4 billion in unfunded liabilities for the ten…
This issue brief provides a "plain English" description of how GASB 43 and 45 will require government financial reporting on non-pension post-employment benefits (OPEB). It is illustrated with preliminary estimates of unfunded OPEB…
The Civic Federation's legislative priorities for 2006 include public pension reform, elimination of the Suburban Cook County Tuberculosis Sanitarium District, property tax exemptions and assessment reform, revision of the Regional…
The Civic Federation supported the City's holding the property tax levy constant for the third year in a row and eliminating vacancies, but was concerned by the lack of transparency regarding the funding for operations at Millennium Park,…
This report found that the "7% cap" resulted in an 11.5% total reduction in property tax owed by homestead exempt properties and a 4.5% increase for all other properties in Chicago, tax year 2003.
This report provides a trend analysis of indicators that measure the financial health and performance of 9 major local government pension funds from 1998 to 2003. It finds a combined $9.7 billion in unfunded liabilities for the nine funds.
The Civic Federation's legislative priorities for 2005 include the Suburban Cook County Tuberculosis Sanitarium District, property tax exemptions and assessment reform, public employee pensions, the Regional Transportation Authority Act,…
