Congress appears to have sealed the fate of the federal Build America Bond (BAB) subsidy by not including renewal of the program in the package of unemployment benefits and tax incentives authorized last week. Now with less than two weeks left before the program is set to expire on December 31, 2010, many governments are rushing to market with last minute bond sales to take advantage of the hefty…
State and local governments utilize fund accounting in order to demonstrate accountability and compliance with rules, laws and regulations.[1] For example, Cook County has a multitude of funds including a Public Safety Fund, Health Fund, an Annuity and Benefit Fund, a Bond and Interest Fund and a variety of special funds. These funds help demonstrate how much the County is spending on an activity…
The Civic Federation’s position on the Cook County property tax system is the focus of this article. In the report, the Federation says the County’s property tax system is too complicated for average property owners to estimate their annual bills.
This article discusses the Civic Federation’s position on the Cook County property tax system, which says the County should make the system simpler and fairer.
This article explores the financial landscape that will confront the next mayor of the City of Chicago. The Civic Federation says that the City entered the current economic recession without an economic plan and that the next mayor will face major budget balancing challenges.
This report articulates the Civic Federation’s overall position on the Cook County property tax system. The report expresses the Federation’s vision for a better property tax system and serves as a framework against which proposals to change the Cook County property tax system may be evaluated. The report identifies positive and negative features of the current system as well as unintended…
(CHICAGO) The Civic Federation stakes out its comprehensive position on the Cook County property tax system in a new report released today. The goal of the report is not only to describe what a better property tax system might look like, but also to serve as a framework that will help government officials and residents evaluate proposals to change the property tax. Together with a series of four…
Although it does not receive as much attention as the Skyway and the metered parking system leases, the downtown public parking system lease was also a very significant privatization transaction. It was undertaken by the City of Chicago, which owned one parking garage in the system and also involved the Chicago Park District which owned the other three garages in the system. The downtown…
In this segment of the Eight Forty-Eight news program, Civic Federation President Laurence Msall discusses how a proposal to privatize City of Chicago lakefront festivals could help fill the City’s budget deficit.
This news segment discusses a recent report that describes the condition of Illinois’ finances as dire. Civic Federation President Laurence Msall assents with that assessment and adds that the State’s has few options to fix its fiscal troubles including major program cuts or reductions in pension contributions.
