The scheduled rollout of Medicaid managed care in Illinois has been delayed by six months so hospitals can set up their own healthcare networks for Medicaid patients. The new networks, known as Accountable Care Entities (ACEs), are intended to cover children and families. The State’s Medicaid agency, the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services (HFS), originally intended to enroll…
Last week the City of Chicago released its Annual Financial Analysis for 2013. According to an executive order issued by Mayor Emanuel on May 20, 2011, the Office of Budget and Management is mandated to produce a financial analysis of the City budget by July 31st of each year. The report includes year-end estimates for the current fiscal year (which ends on December 31) and revenue and…
This article covers the July 31 release of the City of Chicago’s annual financial analysis, which projects a $1 billion deficit in 2015 if the City’s pension funds aren’t stabilized by major reforms. The Civic Federation said it would be very difficult to cover such a large deficit without tax increases and severe cuts to city services.
On this segment, Civic Federation President Laurence Msall discussed the consequences of a triple credit rating downgrade the City of Chicago received from Moody’s Investors July 18. The downgrade will make it more expensive for the City to borrow, leaving less money for essential services for Chicago residents.
This article discusses Chicago Public Schools’ plan to use $700 million in reserve funds in order to fill a $1 billion deficit in FY2014. The Civic Federation opposed the FY2013 CPS budget for draining reserve funds, and said the use of one-time reserves is an unsustainable approach to budgeting.
As explained in a previous Civic Federation blog, in Cook County’s FY2014 Preliminary Budget Estimates report, released on June 27, 2013, the County projects an initial budget deficit of $152.1 million for FY2014. The deficit primarily reflects increased personnel and employee health benefit costs, increased supply and vendor costs in the Cook County Health and Hospitals System, and reduced…
An increase in the cigarette tax increase designed to provide additional funding for the Illinois Medicaid program generated more revenues than expected despite a drop in sales and hoarding of tax stamps prior to the effective date of the tax increase. As discussed here, the $1-per-pack increase was enacted as part of an overhaul of the Medicaid program that sought to eliminate a funding gap of $…
(The full content of this article is only available to the publication’s subscribers.) This article covers the Civic Federation’s analysis of the City Colleges FY2014 tentative budget. The Federation supports the budget for holding the property tax levy flat, reducing unrestricted operating expenses and planning for the phased-in shift of employee pension costs that has been proposed but not yet…
Charged with finding a solution to the State of Illinois’ pension crisis, a legislative conference committee is considering a reform framework proposed by public university presidents. The central feature of the university proposal is a compounded automatic annual benefit increase set at half of the percentage increase in the Consumer Price Index (CPI). Current Illinois retirees and employees…
This article summarizes the Civic Federation’s support for the City Colleges FY2014 tentative budget. The budget holds the property tax levy flat, reduces unrestricted operating expenses and prudently plans for the phased-in shift of employee pension costs that has been proposed but not yet enacted by the Illinois General Assembly.
