-- Connecting the dots between our economy, government and business --
Peoria Assistant City Manager Christopher Setti said the city has the option to buy out the water company every five years through a contractual provision between the city and Illinois American Water. The next opportunity to do so is in 2018. City water has been managed privately since 1889.
By: Mark Glennon* Regulars here may have noticed there hasn’t been much to read in the last couple weeks. The reason should tell you something — something discouraging, which I’m sure is just what you want to hear. We aggregate the best stories we can find about the role of governance in Illinois’ economy, with a particular focus on our state and local fiscal crises. But we try to avoid politics, which is usually rather different. We haven’t found much lately. Attention has properly turned towards the election, and what has that meant? Is there any
Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s $8.2 billion 2017 budget sailed through a City Council committee on Monday along with the $50 million revenue package needed to help pay for it and the mayor’s promised police hiring surge.
If you need tips to keep this year’s holidays civil, look no further than Chicago’s tour guides, who have become masters at easing political tension.
Among 48 downtown Chicago projects this year, 31 have been residential and there have been six office and six hotel towers. Comment: But the Tale of Two Cities continues — it’s almost all in the central business district.
On Monday, more than 40 radio stations are set to broadcast the commercial-free 30-minute event, where Emanuel — and other guests from the mayor’s office — will field questions from Bill Kurtis as well as those submitted by residents. Prediction: Bill Kurtis will have no idea what the right questions are.
The deal will cost Chicago Public Schools (CPS) close to $9.5 billion over the life of the deal, and a large chunk of the cost will be pension pickups, in which the district “picks up” the bulk of teacher pensions after a small contribution from teachers’ salaries.
City faces a state mandate, and residents could face higher taxes. Similar struggles going on in municipalities across Illinois, and a useful reminder that the local pension crisis all derives from unfunded mandates from the state.
Chicagoans determined to cast their votes in the presidential election endured long lines throughout the city and shattered the early voting record set in 2008 by 25 percent, officials said.
Black protesters chant, “CPD, KKK, how many kids have you killed today?” A white man with a megaphone demands, “What are you gonna do now, Buckwheat?”
The state’s large industrial and manufacturing companies would see significant increases in their electric bills to help bankroll a dramatic expansion of energy-efficiency programs run by Commonwealth Edison and downstate utility Ameren Illinois as part of a wide-ranging draft energy bill circulating in Springfield. Just what Illinois needs, right?
No comment.
“There is no question that the increases in property taxes have hurt the real estate market here,” Vince Kolber told North Cook News. “Anybody looking at a new home in Chicago is going to say ‘well, you’re asking too much’ or ‘I’m just not going to buy’ because the tax rates go up.” Comment: I happen to have run into Vince Kolber a couple weeks ago and talked to him at some length about the economy. He is running for Congress in Illinois’ 5th District. He’s exceptionally smart and energetic. Few people understand our economic problems better than him.
SIGN UP HERE FOR OUR FREE WIREPOINTS DAILY NEWSLETTER