Government Efficiency and Transparency

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Forest Preserve District of Cook County FY2010 Proposed Budget: Analysis and Recommendations

The Civic Federation supports the FY2010 Forest Preserve District of Cook County budget of $198.2 million because the District will reduce its property tax levy by $1.1 million and use a portion of its budget reserve funds, rather than…

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City of Chicago FY2010 Proposed Budget: Analysis and Recommendations

The Civic Federation opposes the FY2010 City of Chicago budget of $6.14 billion because it is unsustainable and relies too heavily on one-time reserve funds to close a $520.0 million budget deficit. The proposed drastic draw down of long-…

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Measuring Productivity at the Chicago Transit Authority

While the Civic Federation traditionally analyzes features common to all local government budgets, our…

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Cook County FY2010 Proposed Budget: Analysis and Recommendations

The Civic Federation opposes Cook County’s $3.0 billion FY2010 operating budget because it is predicated on the continuation of an unnecessary one percentage point sales tax increase and provides limited evidence of cost-saving…

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Illinois General Assembly Passes Cook County Veto Override Measure

The Illinois Senate voted today to approve House Bill 4625, which means both houses of the…

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DuPage County FY2010 Proposed Budget: Analysis and Recommendations

The Civic Federation supports the $521.2 million FY2010 DuPage County budget proposal because it maintains funding for core programs while providing property tax relief. The County has additionally improved its budget planning process and…

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UPDATE: Cook County Veto Override Legislation

The Illinois House of Representatives voted on October 14, 2009 to reduce the number of votes required to override a veto by the Cook County Board President from an extraordinary four-fifths—or 14 of 17 commissioners—to three-fifths or 11…

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CTA Enhances Transparency of its Procurement Activities with an Online Database

The Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) recently implemented a vendor database that allows members of the public to search for vendor and contract information on the CTA website. The database…

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Chicago Loses Bid to Host 2016 Olympics Despite $48M Push

This article discusses the Chicago 2016 Olympic Bid’s loss in the first round of voting by the International Olympic Committee. It mentions the Civic Federation’s analysis of the Bid, which found that taxpayers were adequately protected…

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Stop Hinsdale’s land grab

This editorial opposes the village of Hinsdale’s proposed plans to lease a parcel of Cook County Forest Preserve District land on which it would build soccer fields and other park facilities. It includes a Civic Federation quote saying…