-- Connecting the dots between our economy, government and business --
A government watchdog group is calling for oversight of Berrios and the way his office assesses property values. This comes as Berrios faces a lawsuit and condemnation by many public officials in his own party after recent investigations have revealed problems with how properties are assessed.
The governor says he’s counting on the courts to give him several “transformative” wins over organized labor, allowing him to bypass Madigan’s opposition.
Cathy Stepp, a businesswoman-turned-politician who as head of Wisconsin’s Department of Natural Resources sought to ease enforcement of environmental regulations, was named Tuesday by the Trump administration to lead the Environmental Protection Agency’s regional office in Chicago.
The boom of higher-end openings in Chicago over the past four years has depleted the available pool of waitstaff and kitchen help. What’s more, the fight for qualified workers has sent wages soaring, imperiling already thin margins. Add to that rising rents and property taxes, and the city’s restaurant industry is due for a reckoning. You read that right: staff shortages.
Nearly six months into the job overseeing the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, Beverly “B.J.” Walker doesn’t hesitate when asked about her most difficult moments. She describes two cases: a troubled teen whose life DCFS could not straighten out, and a toddler who died after being left alone for days.
The House has to vote again on Wednesday. The Tuesday celebration by GOP House leaders was premature.
State Rep. David McSweeney, R-Barrington Hills, is working on the framework for a bill that would dramatically improve taxpayers’ ability to eliminate township governments, of which Illinois has about 1,400
See our Quicktake on this new report linked here.
Business groups are howling over a move to undo a key portion of reforms in the state’s workers’ compensation system pushed through by ex-Gov. Pat Quinn, reforms that have begun to make Illinois’ rates somewhat more competitive with those in other states.
The Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission is scheduled to vote Dec. 20 on a motion to increase by 30 percent the amount physicians are able to charge for patient evaluation and management, including preliminary diagnosis and post-surgical care.
State and local officials keep raising taxes despite the sobering fact that Illinois and Chicago have both lost population three years in a row. Illinois will never recover if its tax base continues to flee. Even those in more affluent areas of the state will become fed up and leave when tax burdens get too high.
We now have the key provisions of the new tax bill likely to become law that relate to Illinois home values and our property tax mess. This will update the piece I did last month when Congress was considering somewhat different, competing versions. The conclusion remains the same: Home values likely will drop materially, at least in the pricier Chicago area counties, and anger over high property taxes likely will grow. To see why you need to understand the paradox that results from the huge increase in the standard deduction under the bill. For a married couple filing jointly, it
“The city received the State of Illinois pension requirements this last week and we were very surprised by the increase in the contribution requirement,” City Manager Mary Ellen Bechtel said. “The fire and police pension requirement increased by $240,152.54 which is a 19.96 percent increase for the fire and an 11.64 percent increase in the police pension contribution.”
Comment: Too many of these to report. It’s out of control.
After climbing for six straight years, new construction projects in the Chicago area are on track to fall in 2017—and are projected to dip again next year.
Construction starts will finish the year down by about 7 percent compared with 2016, with firms on pace to have begun $12.5 billion in projects, according to New York-based research firm and publisher Dodge Data & Analytics.
While that is still twice the amount of work that was underway on the heels
In light of the change, many Cook County accountants encourage taxpayers who pay more than $10,000 a year in such taxes to temporarily avoid the cap by prepaying property taxes this year that wouldn’t be due until March.
The Center for Public Integrity dove into the backgrounds of the nearly 7,000 state lawmakers nationwide to see just how much their private lives benefited from their public votes. They found that three-quarters of state lawmakers had separate jobs beyond politician.
SIGN UP HERE FOR OUR FREE WIREPOINTS DAILY NEWSLETTER