-- Connecting the dots between our economy, government and business --
To many of us, some things seem obvious. When you’re so broke that your survival is threatened you don’t raise pay. You don’t keep facilities open that are half full. You don’t provide lavish retirement benefits. You expect employees to contribute to their own retirement.
We think that way because we live in an alternate universe.
The outcry from county leaders has been consistent for years: This tab is unsustainable.
“Where does it end?” asked John Daley, a veteran Cook County Board commissioner. “We’re at a point now, when you look at these numbers, you can’t continue this.”
Comment: Taxpayers helped fund it. According to Curbed Chicago, incentives included $6.4 million in Tax Increment Financing (TIF) and $1.5 million in Low Income Housing Tax Credits expected to generate $15.2 million in equity. The City of Chicago also sold two city-owned lots for $1 each to support the development.
On Aug. 26, the Illinois Civil Justice League, an organization which advocates for reform of the state’s civil court system, released a report indicating the state’s tort system hits those in the Chicago metropolitan region with $3.8 billion in annual direct tort costs annually.
Despite not having a vote, Cook County residents have a big stake in the outcome. The county’s chief judge has a $272 million budget and an army of 2,400 employees, which doesn’t even include the 400 judges the office oversees.
“I know that people have gotten new assessments that are 50% higher. Property taxes are the last thing in the world that I want to use as a lever but at this point in good conscience I can’t take anything off the table,” Lightfoot said in a new interview.
A “Social Equity License Application Assistance Program.”
Comment: See our own recent article linked here on how this relates to Illinois.
A new law requires any county board member or elected local governmental official to forfeit their salary at the beginning of their next term if they are receiving pension benefits for service as a county board member or elected officer.
1.5% annual appreciation rate, the lowest rate in 44 months. This places the Chicago area 5th from the bottom of the rankings of the top 20 metro areas that they track. Several former high flyers have fallen from grace and are now below Chicago: New York, San Francisco, San Diego, and Seattle. Seattle, surprisingly, is actually seeing falling home prices.
Lawmakers sent nearly 600 bills to the governor from the Spring legislative session. The deadline for the governor to take action on those bills is this week.
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