In a proposal to stabilize underfunded pensions for Forest Preserve District of Cook County employees and retirees, the Forest Preserves’ Conservation and Policy Council has appealed to the Cook County Board of Commissioners to add the Forest Preserves’ pension fund to an existing intergovernmental agreement (IGA) the County has with the Cook County Pension Fund. Cook County’s IGA allows the County to contribute an amount above the statutorily required contribution to the Cook County Pension…
City Colleges of Chicago released its tentative FY2021 operating and capital budgets on June 23, 2020. The total budget is proposed to be $441.0 million. This a 1.5%, or $6.6 million decrease from the FY2020 budget of $447.6 million. This blog presents highlights of the City Colleges FY2021 $29.0 million capital budget program and its long-term liabilities. City Colleges prepares a capital budget at the same time as the operating budget. This is usually part of a comprehensive five-year…
State legislatures across the country are working out how to conduct the people’s business while also maintaining proper social distancing guidelines. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, legislative chambers in at least 23 states have introduced or adopted bills or resolutions that change rules or procedures in response to COVID-19. Legislatures in at least 14 states have allowed for remote voting or meetings, with new measures being adopted or proposed almost daily.…
The coronavirus pandemic has dealt a severe blow to Chicago’s hospitality industry. Conventions have been cancelled, dine-in restaurants have closed, airport traffic has plunged and sporting events have been cancelled. As of early April, the City had experienced the loss of over 20 conventions and 250,000 hotel bookings related to those events.[1] The coronavirus closures have had an abrupt and serious impact on the hospitality tax revenues used to pay for bonds issued by the Metropolitan Pier…
The $2.2 trillion economic relief legislation passed by Congress in late March contains significant new funding for States and large local governments. Exactly how the money will be split appears to have caused considerable confusion in Illinois and elsewhere. The Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act provides a total of $150 billion in federal aid through the Coronavirus Relief Fund. After setting aside $11 billion for tribal governments, U.S. territories and the District…
The spread of the COVID-19 virus and the measures put in place to reduce the transmission of the virus have forced states and localities across the country to quickly adjust to a new way of governing. Either through executive-branch action or legislative changes to statutes, states have altered their laws surrounding open meetings in an effort to allow state and local governments to continue to govern transparently while also promoting social distancing. On March 16, 2020 Illinois Governor JB…
States are currently facing monumental fiscal challenges posed by the economic and revenue impacts of the coronavirus pandemic. However, their ability to use fiscal policies to address these challenges is quite limited due to structural and capacity issues. Only the federal government has the resources and capacity to implement meaningful countercyclical fiscal policies that might mitigate severe economic and fiscal disruption in the states. This blog post first provides a basic discussion of…
This blog post presents information about the different types of individual income taxes imposed by state governments in the United States. In 2020 forty-one states levied individual income taxes. States currently use flat rate or graduated rate models for their individual income tax rate structures. Three states use a variation of the graduated income tax structure, employing “recapture” rates that combine both graduated and flat rate features. Every state has numerous exemptions, deductions…
Now that the Cook County Forest Preserve District’s $124.7 million budget has been approved without the help of a referendum to increase property tax revenue, Forest Preserve District Commissioners acknowledge that the District’s serious financial challenges need to be addressed over the next year. A proposal for a countywide referendum that would have asked voters on the March 2020 primary ballot whether they supported a property tax increase was scrapped without a board vote after Forest…
The Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) has historically received a reduced fare reimbursement, or subsidy, from the State of Illinois for providing free and discounted rides to eligible riders including seniors, people with disabilities, military and students. The CTA provides nearly 100 million free and reduced-fare trips annually, which amounts to more than $100 million in foregone revenue.[1] The reduced fare subsidy is a partial reimbursement from the State of Illinois for the discounted…
