Problem Illinois needs more cost-efficient, quality-driven spending activity at the local and state levels of government. Illinois’s state budget has exploded from $24.7 billion in 2004 to $32.2 billion in 2009, increasing nearly 30 percent over just five years. The state needs better spending practices, more transparency in the procurement process, and a tool to...
Chicago’s $1.15 billion projected budget gap is the latest in a decades-long string of structural deficits. Making Chicago’s high taxes worse is not the solution.