Illinois’ large number of local government units – the largest in the United States at approximately 7,000 according to the U.S. Census Bureau – is often cited as a reason for high property taxes in Illinois and has fueled calls for government consolidation and efficiencies. In February 2015 former Governor Bruce Rauner created the Local Government Consolidation and Unfunded Mandates Task Force…
2019 Civic Federation Legislative Priorities The Civic Federation's legislative priorities for 2019 include public employee pension reforms, consolidation of local government units in Illinois, enacting policies to rationalize the property tax system, creation of a Local Government Protection Authority, requiring the State of Illinois to…
(CHICAGO) In a report released today, the Civic Federation announced support for Cook County’s proposed FY2019 budget. The $5.9 billion budget proposal is structurally balanced without raising new taxes and continues the practice of making supplemental pension payments. The full report is available here. “Overall, this budget is a prudent plan for the coming year—but it fails to set its sights…
Click here to read the full report. The Civic Federation supports Cook County’s proposed FY2019 budget of $5.9 billion because it is structurally balanced without raising new taxes and continues the practice of making supplemental pension payments. The Federation is encouraged by the County’s strong level of fund balance reserves and its commitment to performance-based budgeting and…
The Civic Federation is a member of Transform Illinois, a coalition of organizations committed to greater government efficiency. Transform Illinois held its fourth annual Transformer Awards on Thursday, October 11, 2018, which honored three elected officials and one citizen for their work on government streamlining and collaboration. The award winners were: Senator Melinda Bush, representing…
The latest in a series about local governments, this blog post examines the number of park districts in Illinois, including an analysis of the number of park districts by county. The park districts examined in this blog are stand-alone special purpose governments that provide public parks and recreation services and exclude park departments operated by another unit of government such as a…
Following major policy changes and calls for increased public disclosure, detailed quarterly information about Cook County bond court orders and outcomes is now available online. Chief Judge Timothy Evans’ Office began posting the new data on the Cook County Circuit Court’s website in early May. A dashboard with seven performance measures is currently available for the first quarter of 2018 and…
Click here to read the full report. The Civic Federation supports the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District’s Tentative FY2018 budget of $1.13 billion because it continues to control operating expenses and maintains financial safeguards, including substantial reserves, to cover shortfalls or financial emergencies. As detailed in the report, the District’s FY2018 budget proposal continues to…
This article discusses the recent release of a Civic Federation report that calls on Cook County criminal justice officials to more fully disclose critical criminal justice data. According to the report, increased transparency will enable the public to have better informed discussions about criminal justice and the effective use of taxpayer dollars, ultimately empowering taxpayers to hold…
Financial Impact of Recent Decline in Jail Population Remains Elusive (CHICAGO) In a report released today, the Civic Federation called on Cook County’s Chief Judge and Sheriff to follow the practices of other large metropolitan jurisdictions in more fully disclosing information about Cook County’s bond court and jail population. According to the report, increased transparency will enable the…
