Illinois

Illinois trimmed revenue estimates for the current fiscal year and must absorb higher social services expenses next year leaving less budget room to maneuver.

The choice of PFM's Jill Jaworski for the CFO position drew praise from the outgoing CFO and market participants who are watching closely to see whether the city stays on track with fiscal progress that has drawn more than a dozen rating upgrades across credits.

Chicago Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson hopes to make an announcement on the CFO post before taking office Monday.

Legislation making its way through the state legislature enhances pension benefits for Tier 2 Chicago firefighters but the Civic Federation is urging lawmakers to slow down.

"When the rating agencies developed and rolled out their ESG scores, they said their ESG scores would not impact an issuer's credit rating. We are holding them to their word," said Ben Watkins, director of the state Division of Bond Finance.

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott traded barbs over the flow of migrants as the city has been overwhelmed since Texas began sending them on to Chicago last August.

The city is offering more than $1 billion of debt under its higher-rated Sales Tax Securitization Corp., and its water and wastewater revenue credits.

Transition committee members include several names familiar to the public finance community including Martin Cabrera, head of Cabrera Capital Markets, a majority Latino-owned investment banking firm, and Richard Price, executive chairman of Mesirow, which also does public finance banking.

While the system took a hit during the COVID-19 pandemic, total traffic hit 94% of pre-pandemic levels in 2022. Traffic for the first two months of 2023 was 99% of levels in the same period of 2019.

"We know this cliff is coming," said state Sen. Ram Villivalam, head of the state Senate transportation committee. "What structural reforms are we looking at implementing? What innovation can we pursue?"