The Civic Federation's legislative priorities for 2010 include public pension reform, requiring state government to develop and implement performance measurement and a capital improvement plan, the dissolving of the Illinois International Port District, creating a new governing board for the Cook County Forest Preserve District, reinstating means-tested transit discounts for seniors, requiring…
Governor Pat Quinn’s administration plans to begin enrolling elderly and disabled Medicaid recipients in Northeastern Illinois—excluding the City of Chicago—in health maintenance organizations (HMOs) in July of 2010. The pilot program, which is expected to cover about 40,000 people, represents the first time that Illinois’ Medicaid program has made enrollment in HMOs mandatory. The Illinois…
This article explores inefficiencies in the Cook County Health and Hospitals System and the effect that the partial rollback of the sales tax in Cook County may have on the System. The Civic Federation is quoted saying that the tax rollback does not necessarily mean that cuts must be made to the Hospital System to balance Cook County’s budget.
This article about the Chicago City Council’s approval of the FY2010 City of Chicago proposed budget quotes the Civic Federation. The Federation says that the budget as enacted does not fix fundamental imbalances and avoids making necessary cuts.
This article about the Chicago City Council’s 38-12 vote to approve a FY2010 City of Chicago budget that uses $370 million in asset lease proceeds from the parking meters to fill budget gaps mentions the Civic Federation’s warning that such gaps could grow larger in years to come.
As noted on page 9 of its FY2010 Tentative Budget, the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago will begin to address concerns over its increasing pension liabilities. The District is proposing to create a task force to study pensions and possibly commission a report that would present analysis of the current and future costs of the District’s pension benefits. The report would…
The Civic Federation supports the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District’s FY2010 Tentative Budget of nearly $1.7 billion as a prudent response to revenue shortfalls. The MWRD plans to prioritize spending, control personnel costs, and implement a modest increase to its property tax levy to balance its budget. The Federation cautions the District, however, that substantial changes may be…
CHICAGO – The Civic Federation supports the $1.7 billion FY2010 Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago (MWRD) tentative budget as a prudent response to revenue shortfalls. The MWRD plans to prioritize spending, control personnel costs, and implement a modest increase to its property tax levy to balance its budget. The full Federation analysis will be available today at www.…
Facing a multi-billion dollar mountain of unpaid bills and declining revenues, Governor Pat Quinn has proposed a new short-term borrowing plan for the State of Illinois that has encountered opposition from the Comptroller’s Office. As previously reported in this blog, the Governor in late October announced his intention to borrow $900 million to help catch up on payments to state vendors and…
In September Fitch Ratings announced an upgrade of the Forest Preserve District of Cook County’s outstanding unlimited tax general obligation bonds totaling $115 million to ‘AA-’ from ‘A+.’ However, Fitch noted that the District is vulnerable to decisions made by its Board of Commissioners, who also serve as the governing board of Cook County. Fitch expressed support for Senate Bill 176, which…
