More details are finally available on the FY2010 operating budget, and it would be difficult to describe it as balanced—even on paper. Depending on how you look at it, there is technically either a $157 million deficit or an $872 million…
Hoping that Illinois lawmakers will agree to an income tax increase later this year, Governor Pat Quinn chose not to make the necessary cuts to work within the budget approved on July 15, 2009 by the General Assembly. At a press conference…
In this interview, Civic Federation President Laurence Msall discusses the Illinois State operating budget deficit and the State’s unwise choice to borrow money in order to make its mandatory pension contributions.
This editorial examines the Illinois General Assembly and Governor Pat Quinn’s difficulty in passing an operating budget that does not rely on borrowing to meet its obligations. The Civic Federation is quoted enumerating the many problems…
This editorial mentions the Civic Federation as one of the many groups opposed to Governor Pat Quinn’s plan to legalize video poker to help finance the State’s $31 billion infrastructure repair bill.
In this column, Mark Brown discusses the State’s current fiscal crisis, and the choices that the State made to get to this point, and the possible loss of State services in the future. He quotes the Civic Federation, which says that…
Laurence Msall, President of the Civic Federation, is interviewed on this segment of Chicago Tonight about the State’s budgetary problems. Msall points out that the State is pushing off its hard decisions to a later date in favor of…
In this blog post, Greg Hinz discusses Illinois’ capital plan and the various infrastructure needs throughout the State. Hinz notes that the Civic Federation has urged lawmakers to prioritize spending through a capital improvement plan…
In a blog post about the programs the Illinois capital budget will fund, Greg Hinz mentions the Civic Federation as one of the major supporters of the State producing a capital improvement plan as a way of prioritizing projects in the…
In this column, Steve Huntley explores the deadlock in Springfield over the State of Illinois budget. He cites the Civic Federation’s analysis of Governor Quinn’s proposed budget, which advocated state employee pension and health care…
