Government Budgets

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Garbage Collection

This segment on the “Chicago Tonight” news program examines Chicago’s ward-based waste collection system. Civic Federation President Laurence Msall was interviewed for the report. He says the City pays too much for the management and labor needed to run 50 individual garbage collection districts. Click the link above or visit the Civic Federation blog to watch the video.

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Civic Federation Discusses Chicago Garbage Collection

Chicago Public Television Garbage Collection 12/17/2009 Online edition This segment on the “Chicago Tonight” news program examines Chicago’s ward-based waste collection system. Civic Federation President Laurence Msall was interviewed for the report. He says the City pays too much for the management and labor needed to run 50 individual garbage collection districts.

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Park District links to-do list to funding

This article details some of the Chicago Park District’s upcoming reconstruction and capital investment projects. The Civic Federation points out that because the District does not issue a detailed project priority list and construction schedule, citizens and park visitors may not have a clear understanding of the District’s improvement plans.

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Water Budget Lauded

This article discusses the Civic Federation’s analysis and support of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago’s $1.7 billion FY2010 budget. The Federation is quoted saying it supports the District’s budget because of its move to institute pension reforms and long-term planning practices.

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CPS board may tighten expense accounts

This article examines the possible reform of the Chicago Public School Board’s $24,000-a-year receipt-free expense accounts to include a new system that would require Board members to submit receipts for expenditures.

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Water Reclamation District approves $1.6B budget

This news article reports on the approval of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago FY2010 operating budget. The article mentions the Civic Federation’s support for the budget.

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Civic Federation Blog Provides Rapid Response Analysis

The redesign of the Civic Federation website in July has provided the public, government officials, and the media better access to the Federation’s analyses of government services in Illinois. The regularly-updated Civic Federation blog especially has provided a constant source of information on the issues that the Federation covers, including local budgets and pensions, taxes, privatization and…

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IIFS Blog Tracks Illinois Issues

Since its beginnings in July with the overhaul of the Civic Federation’s website, the IIFS blog has focused mostly on issues related to the Illinois budget, including Medicaid, debt, and the State pension system. These posts expand upon topics discussed in IIFS research publications and events in the news. Discussion about Illinois’ FY2010 budget and how the State was planning to bridge a two-…

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How Much Fund Balance is Too Much? Not Enough? Just Right?

All governments - whether states, cities or school districts - should place a portion of their general operating revenues in a general fund reserve or “rainy day” fund. These rainy day funds are savings accounts that governments can use to address revenue shortfalls or unanticipated expenditures and to help stabilize tax rates. The discussion here centers around reserves for general funds only,…

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Civic Federation 2010 Legislative Priorities

The Civic Federation's legislative priorities for 2010 include public pension reform, requiring state government to develop and implement performance measurement and a capital improvement plan, the dissolving of the Illinois International Port District, creating a new governing board for the Cook County Forest Preserve District, reinstating means-tested transit discounts for seniors, requiring…