Government Budgets

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City Faces "Enormous Challenge" in Balancing 2010 Budget

This morning news segment features the Civic Federation's commentary on the City of Chicago's anticipated FY2010 budget shortfall of $520 million. The Federation praised Chicago's aggressive steps to combat this year's financial crisis,…

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City running on fumes

This article discusses the City of Chicago's preliminary budget estimates that show a $520 million shortfall for FY2010. The Civic Federation is quoted saying that there are no obvious sources of revenue to fill the gap that the…

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Report: City Colleges of Chicago has the Right Idea on Taxes

This article profiles the Civic Federation’s support of the City Colleges of Chicago budget. The Federation’s budget analysis praised City Colleges' decision to hold its property tax levy flat for the next two years. This article also…

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Fox Chicago Sunday: Laurence Msall

  In this interview, Civic Federation President Laurence Msall discusses the Illinois State operating budget deficit and the State’s unwise choice to borrow money in order to make its mandatory pension contributions.  

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More profiles in failure

This editorial examines the Illinois General Assembly and Governor Pat Quinn’s difficulty in passing an operating budget that does not rely on borrowing to meet its obligations. The Civic Federation is quoted enumerating the many problems…

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Quinn’s dangerous gamble

This editorial mentions the Civic Federation as one of the many groups opposed to Governor Pat Quinn’s plan to legalize video poker to help finance the State’s $31 billion infrastructure repair bill.

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Legislators once more postpone day of reckoning

In this column, Mark Brown discusses the State’s current fiscal crisis, and the choices that the State made to get to this point, and the possible loss of State services in the future. He quotes the Civic Federation, which says that…

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The state’s financial problems

Laurence Msall, President of the Civic Federation, is interviewed on this segment of Chicago Tonight about the State’s budgetary problems. Msall points out that the State is pushing off its hard decisions to a later date in favor of…

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Good, bad and ugly: Illinois’ new capital plan; Kirk’s in

In this blog post, Greg Hinz discusses Illinois’ capital plan and the various infrastructure needs throughout the State. Hinz notes that the Civic Federation has urged lawmakers to prioritize spending through a capital improvement plan…

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Lots and lots of local winners in Quinn’s capital plan

In a blog post about the programs the Illinois capital budget will fund, Greg Hinz mentions the Civic Federation as one of the major supporters of the State producing a capital improvement plan as a way of prioritizing projects in the…