The Civic Federation was concerned about the lack of transparency of this proposal. It questioned the rationale for approving $100 million in proposed projects without producing a Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) and before presenting the…
The Civic Federation supported granting the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago (MWRD) the authority to manage stormwater in Cook County, but opposed exempting the proposed stormwater management property tax levy…
This issue brief provides a "plain English" description of how GASB 34 has increased transparency in government financial reporting. It is illustrated with examples from the City of Chicago's FY2002 CAFR, as well as State of Illinois and…
The Civic Federation supported some of the resolutions before the Northeastern Illinois Regional Transportation Task Force. It urged the Task Force to consider the criteria of sound fiscal policy, improved service, and continued federal…
This report provides a 6-year trend analysis of indicators that measure the financial health and performance of 9 major local government pension funds from 1997 to 2002.
The Civic Federation commended the MWRD for its FY2004 budget of $848.3 million because the District reduced its property tax levy by $2.7 million from the tentative FY2004 budget proposal, it drew down its Corporate Fund balance from a…
This report presents a macro-level overview of expenditure, revenue, debt and personnel trends of 1,043 governments in Cook, Lake, DuPage, Kane, McHenry, and Will Counties. It includes FY1997 and FY2000 comparative information for…
The Civic Federation was disappointed in the Forest Preserve District’s FY2004 operating budget of $140.8 million for several reasons. There was insufficient time--only 4 working days--permitted this year for public review of the budget…
The Civic Federation supported the Chicago Park District's $351 million FY2004 budget because of the District's history of implementing management efficiencies and cost cutting measures and the progress it has made in shifting revenues…
The Civic Federation supported the CTA’s FY2004 operating budget of $936 million. The fare increase in this budget was justified because: the CTA has made some significant efforts over the past five years to control costs; the budget does…
