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…
The Civic Federation released its analysis of the FY2010 DuPage County budget yesterday. In it the Federation announced its support for the County’s proposed financial plan due in large part to the County’s ability to maintain…
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…
This article about recent criticisms of the Cook County Health and Hospitals System Board cites a Civic Federation analysis of the County budget, particularly its funding from the recent increase to the Cook County sales tax. The…
The property tax rates released yesterday by the Cook County Clerk show that the composite tax rates in the City of Chicago and many municipalities declined slightly from the…
The State of Illinois’ personal income tax revenue for FY2010 is now expected to be $850 million lower than projected when the budget was approved in July 2009, according to David…
This news story is about the CTA’s proposed fare increase to bridge a $180 million budget gap and its possible effect on the program that allows senior citizens to ride the CTA, Metra, and Pace for free. The Civic Federation points out…
In this blog post, Greg Hinz discusses the Civic Federation’s report comparing effective property tax rates in selected Chicago-area communities. The report concluded that the residential effective tax rate has risen or remained flat in…
Data from the most recent audited financial statements of Illinois’ state and local government pension funds shows that the total unfunded liabilities for pensions supported by the taxes of Chicago residents reached $10,037 per capita for…
One of the Civic Federation’s ongoing concerns has been transparency in the use of Tax Increment Financing (TIF) by the City of Chicago and State of Illinois. Although the Civic Federation supports the use of TIF as municipal economic…
