With nearly 9,000 units of local government, Illinois is among the most fragmented states in the nation. Government consolidation is frequently proposed as a mechanism to improve efficiency, accountability, and fiscal sustainability in fragmented systems of local governance. In practice, consolidation can take many forms, ranging from full structural mergers and dissolutions of governments to narrower functional consolidation and shared service arrangements. These approaches differ…
Tax Increment Financing, or TIF, is one of the most widely used—and often misunderstood—economic development tools in Illinois. With approximately 1,488 active TIF districts across 511 municipalities in Illinois as of 2025, TIF plays a significant role in shaping local investment, property tax dynamics, and public finance. This primer explains how Tax Increment Financing (TIF) operates in Illinois, including Chicago; assesses its fiscal impacts on taxpayers and overlying taxing bodies; outlines…
Lake County, Illinois, has emerged as a leader in reducing duplication and streamlining local services. With more than 200 units of government, Lake County has been gradually chipping away at this problem by pursuing the elimination or consolidation of small, special-district governments such as sanitary districts, drainage districts, and mosquito abatement districts. Since 2017, the 19-member elected Lake County Board of Commissioners has eliminated or consolidated six special districts and is…
The following is testimony delivered by Civic Federation Senior Policy Advisor Paula Worthington to the Regional Transit Authority's Ad Hoc Committee on Transit Funding on October 3, 2025. The original testimony has been edited slightly for publication.The Civic Federation, along with a number of other civic and business-oriented organizations, sent a letter to this Committee earlier this…
More than 5.5 million residents in northeastern Illinois rely on Lake Michigan for their drinking water needs. Yet, despite its undeniable importance, the system designed to manage this critical resource is a patchwork of competing interests and fragmented governance, resulting in inefficient delivery of this basic resource. This report explores the challenges and opportunities in our current system, arguing that northeastern Illinois’ water governance system should not continue as it is. The…
Our collective organizations write to express the urgency of reaching a resolution on transit funding for the northeastern Illinois region. We urge the RTA and the service boards to be more transparent and forward-looking, providing more detail via regular communications channels and turning to third parties or consultants to provide financial and operational analysis as needed to educate stakeholders and build trust that is now lacking.
The Local Pension Dashboard is intended for use as a resource and educational tool to increase the accessibility of local pension fund data. The dashboard reports metrics for the ten major local pension funds within the City of Chicago and Cook County, Illinois, with data from 1996 to 2024 (2024 CTA data is not included as that data has not been released as of publication). Using this tool, dashboard users can create custom visualizations and comparisons of up to ten funds.
On September 17, 2025, Civic Federation President Joe Ferguson testified before the Cook County Legislation and Intergovernmental Relations Committee in support of a resolution calling for an assessment and reform of mosquito abatement services in suburban Cook County. He emphasized that mosquito abatement is a vital public health function but is currently delivered through a fragmented and inequitable system that lacks efficiency and accountability. Citing the Federation’s earlier report,…
This report examines the hidden complexity behind Illinois’ roadways, revealing how fragmented jurisdictional responsibilities—split among municipalities, counties, townships, and the state—create inefficiencies, higher costs, and uneven service. Using Glenview as a case study, the analysis highlights how overlapping control leads to inconsistent maintenance and coordination challenges. Drawing on state data and national best practices, the report outlines strategies for improving road…
Green Bay Road, a vital north-south corridor through Lake and Cook Counties, is maintained by ten different jurisdictions, including the State of Illinois and nine municipalities. This fragmented structure leads to inconsistent planning, uneven road conditions, and disjointed infrastructure projects. While local control was intended to foster responsive governance, the result is a patchwork of priorities that fails to match how the road is actually used: as a continuous, regional thoroughfare.…
