Suburban counties last year spent $83M in RTA sales taxes on jails and courts, and they are not giving that money up as the state scrapes for cash.
Government Finance & Accountability
Posted inFollow-Up
Hundreds Of Lots Owned By ‘City’s Worst Landowner’ Went Up For Sale. But Only A Fraction Have Sold
Parcels that belonged to Suzie B. Wilson and her sister accumulated $15 million in city fines for rat-related violations. Hundreds are still sitting empty without any promise of redevelopment.
Posted inGovernment Finance & Accountability
Calls For ‘Belt-Tightening’ in Chicago Budget Face Hurdles Amid Few Options for Pain-Free Cuts
Cutting city spending faces at least as many logistical and political challenges as raising taxes, an Illinois Answers Project analysis found.
Posted inInvestigations
Brace For Impact: Tax Hikes Loom For South, West Side Homeowners
Property assessments double for 37,000 homes in Chicago’s historically neglected neighborhoods amid fresh investor interest.
Posted inGovernment Finance & Accountability
Lawsuits Pile Up as Illinois Lags on Reforming Tax Sale Laws
Illinois is the only state that has yet to reform its tax sale laws after the Supreme Court found unconstitutional a process that can cost homeowners their residences.
Posted inInvestigations
10 Years After State Budget Impasse, Human Services in Illinois Again Brace for ‘Tsunami’
Nonprofits hurt by impasse boosted budgets with federal funding — now endangered by Trump.
Posted inInvestigations
Billions in Profits, Millions in Unpaid Claims: Medicaid Insurers Leave Illinois Providers Struggling, Patients Losing Care
Small clinics and hospitals are drowning in denied and delayed claims from Illinois Medicaid managed care organizations (MCOs). To cope, some providers have stopped accepting Medicaid altogether. Meanwhile, MCOs are seeing increasing profits, but aren’t meeting patient care metrics.
Posted inInvestigations
‘The Public Deserves to Know.’ State Agency Withholds Details in Girl’s Death
The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services can delay reports for years.
Posted inInvestigations
A New Wastewater Plant in Carterville Could Stop Sewage Overflows — Why Hasn’t Construction Started Yet?
Carterville reported 40 sanitary sewer overflows in the past decade. City officials have known for years that a new wastewater treatment plant would resolve the issue. They promised it would be operational by last year. But construction hasn’t started yet. Meanwhile, residents deal with flooding and backed up basements.
Posted inInvestigating Responses
Wasted Waters: How Southern Illinois is Coping with Decades of Sewage Flooding… and Why it Still Isn’t Solved.
Five dozen communities in Southern Illinois account for a third of the reported sanitary sewer overflows in the state in the last decade. But with low revenues, population declines, and bureaucratic delays, solutions are hard to come by. Meanwhile, residents face property damage flooded yards and basements and governments that still haven’t fixed the problem.
