While Mayor Brandon Johnson weighed what could be the biggest decision of his time as mayor, the Civic Federation said the proposed "budget does not move Chicago appreciably toward long-term fiscal stability."

Inspector General Joseph Ferguson, who paid the $5,000 fine, said that while he was disappointed by the board's decision, he had no regrets about his decision to divulge the confidential report.

State lawmakers sent Gov. JB Pritzker a $55.2 billion budget on May 31 that raises $1 billion in new revenue and increases spending by more than $2 billion in fiscal year 2026 compared to the current year.

“By applying the sales tax only to goods and a small number of services, Illinois is missing the ability to tax much of the spending within its borders,” the nonpartisan Civic Federation said in its latest report.

The seven-member Board of Education on Thursday approved the district’s $9.9 billion spending plan for the upcoming school year despite criticisms from educators who said the district is relying on staff vacancies to plug its $505 million funding gap.

“Illinois cannot simply hope that its remaining fiscal challenges will disappear on their own,” the Civic Federation says in a new report. “They will not until they are addressed head on.”

Failing to tackle a looming $730 million budget hole for CTA, Metra and Pace could have “potentially debilitating” effects on disinvested Chicago area communities that rely on transit – but boosting funding for public transportation without drastic governance reform would be a major failure, a new report says.

Civic Federation President Joseph Ferguson called the complicated proposal to phase out the city’s decades-long reliance on tax increment financing districts, known as TIFs, “sensible” and “responsible.”

According to findings from the Civic Federation and the League of Women Voters of Cook County, the Pretrial Fairness Act has worked as intended during the first six months of its implementation.

Joe Ferguson spent 12 years as the corruption-busting watchdog of Chicago government — proving to be a thorn in the side of both the Emanuel and Lightfoot administrations.

The working group formed by Mayor Brandon Johnson in June to tackle Chicago’s acutely underfunded pensions has yet to craft a comprehensive plan to address one of the major fiscal challenges facing the city.

The working group formed by Mayor Brandon Johnson to tackle Chicago’s acutely underfunded pensions is set to meet for the first time this week to confront one of the major fiscal challenges facing Chicago’s new leader.

A trio of budget ordinances backed by progressive aldermen failed to advance Monday, as a fiscal watchdog warned that Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s plan to borrow $15 million to avoid layoffs and refinance an additional $1.7 billion was potentially perilous.

Stern warnings on state budget prospects from a nonpartisan fiscal watchdog.

Students within the City Colleges of Chicago won’t see any tuition hike this fall as the state’s largest community college district works through its first full budget in more than two years.

The political inertia that’s left Illinois without a budget can’t continue, according to a report released Tuesday by the non-partisan Civic Federation.