In an analysis of Cook County’s FY2022 budget proposal released in November, the Civic Federation supported the Cook County budget proposal of $8.0 billion. This blog post takes a closer look at public safety spending in the County’s budget by examining five of the five key County criminal justice stakeholder offices—the Sheriff, Chief Judge, Clerk of the Circuit Court, State’s Attorney and…
The Lincoln Institute of Land Policy (Lincoln Institute) released last week an evaluation of common property tax relief programs used across the United States. The report also makes recommendations for the best practices in promoting a property tax system that is fair and also retains the ability to provide sustainable revenue. The Civic Federation has long supported some of the reforms…
Click here to read the full report. Click here to read a press release for this analysis. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The Civic Federation supports the Cook County FY2022 Executive Budget Recommendation of $8.04 billion. The County is in a good financial position to recover from the disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The County has built up reserves, maintained manageable long-term debt levels…
Short-term or current liabilities are financial obligations that must be satisfied within one year. These include short-term notes, accounts payable, amounts due to other funds, accrued payroll and other current liabilities. Rating agencies, financial analysts and the Civic Federation regularly track trends in short-term liabilities to help evaluate the overall fiscal health of governments. This…
On June 24, 2021, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle issued a preliminary budget forecast for fiscal year 2022. The fiscal year begins December 1, 2021 and ends November 30, 2022. The report provides end-of-year estimates for the current 2021 fiscal year and a forecast for the upcoming 2022 fiscal year in the County’s operating funds. The operating funds include the General Fund, which…
UPDATE: READ THE ONE YEAR PROGRESS REPORT HERE Click here to read the full report. Click here to read the press release. Click here to read the 2020 recommendations. Click here to read the first year in review. INTRODUCTION In September 2020, the Chicago Appleseed Center for Fair Courts, Chicago Council of Lawyers and the Civic Federation released New Directions for the…
Cook County has accounted for all $429 million in Coronavirus Relief Fund (CRF) funding the County received through the federal CARES Act in 2020, according to a report presented by Cook County finance officials to the Cook County Board of Commissioners in January. The County received relief funds from the U.S. Treasury in April 2020 that could be used to cover eligible COVID-19-related expenses…
Click here to read the full report. Click here to read the press release for this analysis. MAJOR FINDINGS Effective property tax rates are a measure of property tax burden for homeowners and businesses. They translate the tax rates on property tax bills into rates that reflect the percentage of full market value that a property owed in taxes for a given year. This report, produced annually…
In January 2021, Cook County issued $499.8 million in general obligation and revenue bonds. A total of $330.5 million was issued by the County in Series 2021A general obligation refunding bonds. These bonds will be used to refund the County’s outstanding Series 2010A and 2010G bonds [1]. The bonds being retired had an average interest rate of 5.2%, while the refunding bonds will carry a blended…
Recently, Cook County, the State of Illinois and other jurisdictions across the U.S. have begun to implement policy changes to reduce reliance on monetary bail and release more individuals while awaiting trial. These changes come amid a national push to make the criminal justice system more fair and reduce the number of criminal defendants held in jail pretrial based on their inability to pay…
