This blog post presents an overview of the Chicago Transit Authority’s FY2022 operating budget, including a summary of how federal stimulus funds were used to balance the budget, and an update on its recent $350 million debt issuance. The Chicago Transit Authority, like other transit agencies around the country, faces serious challenges to its future operations and fiscal solvency in the wake of…
The $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) was signed into law on March 11, 2021 and provides for $350 billion in funding for eligible state, local, territorial, and Tribal governments. The Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds (SLFRF), a section of ARPA, provide significant revenue support to state and local governments, and in contrast to prior pandemic relief such as the…
The Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) released a $3.5 billion, five year FY2022-FY2026 capital plan in October 2021. The CTA prepares a multi-year, comprehensive capital improvement plan (CIP) at the same time as its annual operating budget. It is included in the operating budget book. The first year of the CIP is the capital budget for that fiscal year. The CTA capital budget for FY2022 is…
Over the summer, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker signed into law Public Act 102-0263, which makes changes to the funding schedule for the Chicago Park District’s pension fund, allows for pension obligation bonds and creates a third tier of benefits. The Park District Pension Fund has a complicated funding history that involves State pension reforms that were allowed to go into effect, then…
The Civic Federation hosted a series of criminal justice reform panel discussions as part of the annual conference of the Governmental Research Association in July. Here we highlight the key takeaways from discussions on two topics currently at the forefront of criminal justice reform across the nation: bail reform and police budgeting reform. Bail Reform Efforts Across the U.S. This panel…
Recently, Cook County, the State of Illinois and other jurisdictions across the U.S. have begun to implement policy changes to reduce reliance on monetary bail and release more individuals while awaiting trial. These changes come amid a national push to make the criminal justice system more fair and reduce the number of criminal defendants held in jail pretrial based on their inability to pay…
The Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) released a $3.4 billion, five year FY2021-FY2025 capital plan in October 2020. The CTA prepares a multi-year, comprehensive capital improvement plan (CIP) at the same time as its annual operating budget. It is included in the operating budget book. The first year of the CIP is the capital budget for that fiscal year. The CTA capital budget for FY2021 is…
This is an update of a previous Civic Federation blog on the finances of the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority (MPEA). Since that post, MPEA has continued to face COVID-19 pandemic related economic disruptions. It issued $160.7 million in bonds in September to reduce debt service costs in FY2021 and provide liquidity for operations in FY2021 and FY2022. As the COVID-19 pandemic enters…
On August 12, 2020 the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) approved Ordinance 020-070 amending its FY2020 budget to incorporate $690.1 million of the CARES Act funding it received from the federal government in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The CARES Act funding will help offset the decline in system generated revenue and public funding.[1] This is the first time in nearly a decade that the CTA…
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a devastating impact on state budgets, with tax revenue shortfalls estimated to total about $200 billion for fiscal years 2020 and 2021 compared with initial projections.[1] What actions are states taking to deal with these financial losses? Illinois’ FY2021 budget relies on borrowing to close a $6.6 billion deficit. However, Governor J.B. Pritzker hopes to avoid…
