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...

At a meeting on September 24, the Cook County Board approved changes in the operations of the County’s Inspector General’s Office, including recommendations made by the Civic Federation to improve public...

UPDATE : On September 21, the Cook County Health (CCH) Board approved by a vote of eight to three an amended FY2021 proposed budget with $40 million of additional County funding, instead of the $53...

The City of Chicago recently released its Budget Forecast for FY2021 , which provides financial estimates for the City’s current fiscal year that ends on December 31, 2020 and a...

In a recent analysis of the Chicago Public Schools FY2021 budget, the Civic Federation supported the District’s proposed $8.4 billion budget. However, the Federation expressed serious concerns about the budget’s reliance on $343 million in...

The Civic Federation is a member of the Governmental Research Association, the national organization of individuals professionally engaged in government research. Founded in 1914, the GRA has for more than 100 years worked to promote government research as a vocation and facilitate the exchange...

On August 12, 2020 the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) approved Ordinance 020-070 amending its FY2020 budget to incorporate $690.1 million of the CARES Act funding it received from the federal government in...