The Civic Federation’s Annual Civic Awards Luncheon, now in its 36th year, recognizes civic leadership in Chicago. Named for the Federation’s founding members, the Lyman J. Gage Award and the Addams-Palmer Award recognize the outstanding civic contributions of Chicago individuals and...

Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner presented his FY2019 State budget...

The Illinois Department of Revenue announced last week that the final equalization factor for the Cook County 2017 property assessment year (taxes payable in 2018) is 2.9627.

The 2017...

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...

The Civic Federation co-hosted a conference with the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago on April 17, 2018 entitled, “Navigating Pension Reform: What Lies Ahead?” Experts, practitioners and...

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 five-year trends for: 1) total short-term liabilities in the...

On April 5, 2018 the City Colleges of Chicago Board of Trustees unanimously approved Board Resolution 33420 , which changes the tuition rate from a tier-based rate structure to a hybrid tuition rate structure....

*Note: This blog post was updated on April 13, 2018 with more recent information on the Chicago Public Schools’ short-term borrowing and cash flow position.

Chicago Public Schools (CPS) is heading into the next annual budget cycle for the 2019 fiscal year that begins on July 1, 2018. In...

In a previous blog post , the Civic Federation explored the Illinois State Actuary’s findings in its first...

As part of the American Council of Young Political Leaders ( ACYPL ) program, the Civic Federation hosted Young South East Asian...

Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner presented his annual budget address on February 14, 2018, outlining his...

Public Act 100-0465, which overhauled the State of Illinois’ school funding formula and made significant changes to how Chicago teachers’ pensions are...

The Civic Federation recently released its annual Effective Property Tax Rates report . The report highlights that in 2015 property tax burdens for many communities declined from the...

Amid increased attention to the number of detainees at Cook County Jail, more information about the size of the jail population is now available on the...

Annually the Civic Federation releases a report on consumer taxes in the City of Chicago. Consumer taxes include both taxes and fees and are tied to the use or consumption of certain goods and services that can be charged directly to consumers through retail transactions or passed onto consumers...