Vehicular hijacking, commonly referred to as carjacking, has become a point of great concern among City and State officials due to an increase in incidents since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The increase in carjackings follows a national trend, although overall crime in Chicago and...

The Civic Federation recently released its annual Effective Property Tax Rates report , which examines two- and ten-year trends in estimated effective tax rates for residential, commercial and industrial property in selected...

In January 2021, Cook County issued $499.8 million in general obligation and revenue bonds.

A total of $330.5 million was issued by the County in Series 2021A general obligation refunding bonds. These bonds will be used to refund the County’s outstanding Series 2010A and 2010G bonds [1...

Honoring Dr. Ngozi Ezike and Dr. Allison Arwady

On Wednesday, February 10, 2021 the Motorola Solutions Foundation and the Civic Federation honored the outstanding public service contributions of Dr. Ngozi Ezike and Dr. Allison Arwady. Dr. Ezike serves as the Director of the Illinois...

Despite large revenue losses associated with the economic downturn caused by COVID-19, Cook County’s preliminary 2020 budget results for the fiscal year that ended on November 30, 2020 show a positive year-end balance. Based on the...

The Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) released a $3.4 billion, five year FY2021-FY2025 capital plan in October 2020. The CTA prepares a multi-year, comprehensive capital improvement plan (CIP)...

Annually the Civic Federation releases a report on consumer taxes in the City of Chicago. Consumer taxes 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 by businesses or governments....

The following are excerpts or summaries of the five most read posts presented on the Civic Federation’s blog in 2020* in chronological order. The posts examine issues related to local taxes and budgets and the State of Illinois’ proposal for...

Cook County government has historically kept its property tax levy relatively flat, especially when compared to the other largest government bodies in Cook County including the City of Chicago and Chicago Public Schools, both of which have...

On November 18, 2020, the City of Chicago released a multi-year capital plan for FY2021 through FY2025. The plan totals $11.7 billion over the 5-year period. This is a 36.5%, or...

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s proposed budget for the fiscal year starting January 1, 2021 includes a property tax increase of $93.9 million for a total property tax levy of $1.6 billion. This blog post will explore the three component parts of the increase.

The City of Chicago, as a...

The City of Chicago expects year-end general operating revenues to be 20.6% below budget by the end of the current 2020 fiscal year, according to the City’s FY2021 budget proposal . As described in a...

The full market value of real estate in Cook County was $609.6 billion in tax assessment year 2018 according to an annual estimate released by the Civic Federation today. The 2018 estimates represent the sixth year in a...

With the City of Chicago facing a $1.2 billion budget deficit heading into the next fiscal year and calls from community advocates for more funding for violence prevention and social services, the current situation begs the question of whether cuts can be made in the Police Department budget,...

This is an update of a previous Civic Federation blog on the finances of the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority (MPEA). Since that post, MPEA has...