Chicago and Illinois finances clobbered in new reports

Crain's Chicago Business reports:

Two new reports are strongly criticizing the financial condition of local government, with one saying the city of Chicago now faces "unsustainable" deficits and the other warning that per capita Illinois debt is nearing the worst in the nation.

The first report, from Chicago's Civic Federation, urges aldermen to reject Mayor Richard M. Daley's proposed $6.14-billion 2010 budget.

"The city proposes to close 93.8% of its deficit with $370 million from its asset lease reserves and $118 million in savings from debt restructuring," the report says. "The Civic Federation cannot emphasize enough that these one-time revenues will not be available to close what are almost certain to be significant deficits next year and the year after."

In fact, Chicago has run up a budget deficit each of the past 10 years, and needs to begin dealing with that reality rather than relying on asset sales to "prop up the budget and avoid necessary cuts," federation President Laurence Msall said.

Great moments in Blue America.