Government Budgets

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CPS' billion-dollar budget hole leaves unappealing options

This article examines the options available to Chicago Public Schools as it faces a $1 billion budget shortfall next year with little to no reserve funds. As…

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State Construction and Local Tax Funds Allocated for Illinois Operating Budget

A week after passing legislation to address a $1.6 billion budget deficit before the end of the fiscal year in June, the State swept $300 million into its operating accounts from funds designated to pay for annual transportation…

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Illinois Approves Fix for FY2015 Budget Gap

The State of Illinois recently enacted legislation designed to close a $1.6 billion budget gap for the fiscal year ending on June 30, 2015. This blog post reviews the causes of the operating deficit and examines Public Acts…

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12-Year Short-Term Liability Trends for Chicago, Cook County and Chicago Public Schools

Short-term or current liabilities are financial obligations that must be satisfied within one year. They can include short-term debt, accounts payable, accrued payroll and other current liabilities. This blog post presents 12-year trends…

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Devil in the details with city finances

This article looks at both mayoral candidates’ proposals for addressing the City of Chicago’s financial challenges, which include severely underfunded pension funds, a high debt level and Chicago Public Schools’ $1 billion deficit. The…

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Rauner pension math would mean big cuts for current state employees

This column discusses Governor Rauner’s pension reform proposal which accounts for $2.2 billion of the projected savings in his

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Rauner plan could cost suburbs 25% of reserves

This article analyzes the health of the financial reserves of 90 northeastern Illinois suburbs in response to Governor Rauner’s FY2016 budget proposal that included reducing municipalities’ shares of State Income Tax revenues. The Civic…

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Governor Proposes Shifting Capital Funding For Delayed Maintenance

Alongside his first operating budget proposed for the State of Illinois, Governor Bruce Rauner also recommended a capital budget for FY2016 that proposes shifting previously vetoed spending authority to pay for delayed maintenance at State…

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Averting doomsday

This article discusses the budget Governor Rauner proposed earlier in February, which closes a $6.2 billion budget gap through program reductions and a pension reform proposal. The piece cites recommendations from the Civic Federation’s…

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Governor Proposes Deep Cuts and New Pension Reforms to Balance FY2016 Budget

In his first budget proposal for the State of Illinois, Governor Bruce Rauner recommended more than $4 billion in spending cuts and $2.2 billion in estimated pension savings to close a projected budget gap of over $6 billion in fiscal…